Ides of Mars
by Martiangirl
Summary: A plot is underway unknown to many in the palace. Tensions start to strain and hard truths are revealed to the gang.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Loonatics, Looney Tunes, and Duck Dodgers characters are all property of Warner Bros., and I, unfortunately, am not making a dime off this piece. Ambassador Johnson is a hybrid creation (I think), since she's my character who's sort of based on one of WB's character prototypes, which they effectively ditched. But I must give credit to WB to avoid a lawsuit. All other characters, however, are my property and shall remain mine unless WB contacts me with an offer to buy them off of me (not bloody likely to happen, but a girl can dream, can't she?).

**Warnings: **some violence, some OOCness, and original characters. Rating might do up with content in future (remains to be seen).

This is my first Loonatic fic (can already hear the groans from the LT forum while dodging flying vegetables), and it's a slight crossover with Looney Tunes and the Duck Dodgers series. In case you've never seen either, I'll answer any questions as they arise. Otherwise, there are sites which can give you the basic rundown. For the sake of my fic, some facts will be slightly skewed. For example, Daffy Duck and Duck Dodgers are usually considered separate characters with Daffy as an actor playing the role of the other. In here, they are considered the same person.

**Ides of Mars**

**Prologue**

Flipping through the channels, the figure had stumbled across a news station that was showing yet another crime scene starring Earth's latest super heroes.

"In latest news, the super hero team known as the Loonatics have apprehended yet another villain. . ."

"Figures. Seven hundred years of progress and over 15,000 channels and there's still nothing good on television." The man watched as a yellow and black rabbit with sharp, pointed fur was being interviewed alongside a black and orange duck.

Snarling in disgust, the viewer continued to channel surf . Unfortunately, he forgot he wasn't the only one in the room.

"What are you doing!" A stern female voice interjected behind him. He found himself sinking into his chair.

"I was just-" he managed sheepishly.

"Change it back!" How was it that even as equals, she always managed to order him around like an underling?

"All right, all right," he finally consented wearily, and turned back to the news station.

"_. . .saving Acmetropolis from utter annihilation." _

"I still don't understand what's the obsession with these things," he cocked a curious eye as he watched the team of multi-colored zoo animals wave to the cameras.

"You know the reason."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," he pouted and crossed his arms.

"No one's asked you to like them," his partner snipped back at him. She paused for a moment as she observed some replayed footage of the creatures battling their latest foe, and she found herself unconsciously shivering.

"They are rather creepy looking, aren't they?"

"You really think they'll go for it?" he asked curiously.

"I don't know what to expect. But I don't see any reason why not to at least make an attempt. We have nothing to lose."

"Just so long as none of them linger around too long." That much she agreed with him on. Unfortunately, she was no soothsayer and couldn't tell what would be necessary in the future.

"We'll see."

* * *

Just a teaser there, folks. Lame title, I know, but titles aren't really my forte. Please read and review. Any constructive criticism will be appreciated.

And thanks to matn90, who explained to me what a "city-planet" was! Basically from what I got, Acmetropolis is just one big city that encompasses the planet Earth. I suspect that there are no longer countries or other cities in the traditional sense, and I'm assuming that the mayor is the overall leader.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

Curious and excited murmurs floated through the air as a sea of people crowded outside in the streets of Acmetropolis. Those who were lucky enough to get close sat in rapt attention in front of an elevated, illuminated platform, on which stood an empty podium. For the rest of the billions of citizens who couldn't get to the center of the action, their attentions were tuned onto their televisions, as hundreds of media reporters and cameras were broadcasting their introductions to the epoch-making affair.

"This is a momentous and historic occasion in Earth's history. . ."

"It is at the center of the city, that an announcement will be made. . ."

". . .one that is rumored to possibly change our planet's history as we know it!"

"The mayor of Acmetropolis is at the podium to introduce the speaker at tonight's assembly." The mob applauded as the mayor ascended to stairs to the podium to speak to the city.

"Citizens of Acmetropolis, it is with great pleasure that I introduce a woman who has served our city and planet well for over ten years as Earth's interplanetary representative. A person whose hard work and intelligence has bettered our city's relations with other worlds and has helped bring peace and unity throughout the galaxy. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, ambassador of Earth, Ms. Maxima Johnson!" A sharp looking woman in a violet business suit and skirt strode toward the podium amongst the noise of cheers from the audience.

Elsewhere in the city, within the Loonatics headquarters tower, the team was gathered around their own big screen, eyes glued to the closeup of the figure as she calmly brushed a strand of her short, dark hair away from her tanned face while silently flipping through her notes. Only one member of the group seemed less than enthralled with the whole scene as he leaned on his elbow with an air of boredom.

"I can't believe they cancelled the Acme Rangers game for this!" Danger Duck sulked as he stared at the screen half-awake.

"Duck, dis is highly important stuff here." Ace Bunny remarked calmly from his chair behind the miffed mallard.

"It's not everyday dat history is made right on your own doorstep."

"I know_ that_," Duck answered back irritated, "but they couldn't pick another day to make it? Besides, it'll be all over the news and in the papers for the next month anyway. I don't see why you're making us watch this _now!_"

"Shh, the ambassador is about to speak!" Tech E. Coyote chastised the both of them from his seat near the window. He didn't want to miss a word of this.

"Citizens of Acmetropolis," Maxima began, smiling knowingly toward the cameras, "it is with great excitement that I announce that today will mark an important chapter in our planet's history. For over 200 years, we had been at odds with the Martian Empire, and in complete isolation for over another three centuries. But the days of conflict and misunderstanding between our two worlds are drawing to an end.

"With the mayor's approval, I have been in contact with the King and Queen of Mars, who after months of negotiations, have agreed to allow visitors onto their planet for the first time in centuries. It will be on the planet Mars that the final talks will take place that will finally unify our two planets as allies, signifying the beginning of a new era of peace and cooperation."

The entire city erupted into thunderous cheers. For a world that had lived so long in war and had seen numerous superpowered enemies threatening their city, the promise of a truce was indeed welcome news. Maxima waited for the noise to dissipate before continuing.

"Thank you all! However, that is not the only reason why I am here today before you. I am preparing to leave for Mars at the end of this week, representing Acmetropolis as an example of diplomacy. But I wish to extend an invitation to some special citizens.

"I know that most of you here in the city will recognize them. Time and again they have proved themselves fine examples of courage and heroics as they have continuously risked their lives to protect us whenever evil has shown its face. They are true representatives of our planet's finest citizens, and if you are listening, Loonatics, I wish to extend a personal invitation to your entire team to join me on this historic venture, in order to show the citizens of Mars exactly what Earthlings can achieve at greatness."

The crowd once more broke into cheers, that lasted several minutes. Up in the Loonatics headquarters, it was a completely different story. There was nothing but dead silence from its occupants as the crew stared numbly at the screen, not daring to believe their own ears. Blissfully unaware of the heroes' stunned state, Ambassador Johnson continued to address them.

"I expect to hear from you soon, Loonatics. And I sincerely hope that, together, we can usher in a new age for Acmetropolis!"

* * *

Well, that's my pathetically short first chapter. Next one's longer. Promise. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

The room was silent for a few seconds as each member stared at the wide television in shock. It was Ace who finally decided to break the pause.

"Did. . . we just hear. . . what I tink we hoid?"He questioned the others, waiting to get a response out of his teammates. All at once, the others began chattering away to each other at the sudden and eagerly welcomed news.

"I can't believe it!"Duck leapt from his seat on the couch. "We're going to be even more famous than before! We're going to be famous space heroes! Oh man I can't wait! Let me just pack a few things" Duck didn't even give the room a second glance as he dashed out toward his own bedroom to pack.

Rev was almost as ecstatic as Duck was as he darted rapidly from once part of the livingroom to another, hardly able to contain his excitement.

"WOW-this-is-EXCITING!-I-mean-can-you-believe-that-we-were-asked-personally-by-the-ambassador-herself-to-go-with-her-when-she-could-have-had-anyone-in-the-world?"

"Now waita minute, Rev-" Ace tried to calm the high-strung roadrunner down for a second, though Rev seemed not to have heard anything the rabbit was saying as he continued on his rapid tangent.

"Not-to-mention-that-this-is-such-a-historical-and-important-assignment.-Should-we-be-nervous?-I-know-I-am-since-we're-going-to-represent-the-entire-planet-I-mean-one-wrong-move-could-set-off-a-chain-of-events-that-could-launch-both-worlds-into-total-CHAOS-but-then-again-we-could-help-bring-about-peace-in-the-galaxy-and-who-am-I-kidding?-This-is-going-to-be-GREAT!"

Lexi sat on the couch next to Slam, blissfully basking in the romance of the situation.

"Wow, another planet! And more royalty! I wonder how the shopping's over there!"

"Now let's just hold on fora minute-" Ace was suddenly spoke up again, this time with more authority in his voice. He was getting the feeling that his teammates were getting too carried away to be thinking clearly. However, once again, no one seemed to hear him over the commotion.

"Rahsahtashzzizxagrrraahhazzhhaa?" Slam eagerly questioned Lexi. The pink bunny sat back in thought for a moment, pondering the devil's query.

"Gee, I don't know. . .I'm sure they'll have good food there. Oh, maybe the King and Queen will hold a royal banquet there!" Lexi's voice practically squeaked as visions of fancy silverware, formal balls, and ice sculptures danced in her head, while Slam growled and licked his chops at the prospect.

"Eh. . .you guys?" Ace tried in vain to get his friends' attention.

"Just so long as they don't serve any Tristian goulash." Duck muttered under his breath, overhearing Lexi as he struggled to drag an immense overstuffed suitcase behind him, that he somehow managed to pack up in less than three minutes.

"My grandma used to force feed me that stuff three times a week for twelve years. Nasty!" He shuddered at the memory of the gelatinous green glop his grandmother tried to pass off as food.

"Excuse me fellas, but aren't we forgettin'-" The rabbit was quickly cut off from the wistful speech of the coyote next to him.

"All that technology . . ." Tech seemed to be whisper more to himself than anything else as he gazed out the window toward the darkened sky.

He was practically drooling in anticipation. One didn't go through over near twenty years of schooling without hearing at least one history lecture on the 200 year war between Earth and Mars. Although, it had resulted in a stalemate, his old professors had often bragged about how the Earth's Protectorate had managed to hold their own and even defeat in battle the technologically superior Martians. Earth had managed to regain as the galaxy's technological leader for a short time, but were soon overtaken yet again in the science department. Even if the Martians were his home planet's former enemy, he couldn't help but admire such scientific accomplishments. Such a tragic shame they never used their talents for more benevolent means.

Just the thought of such an inspiring time, made his eyes nearly doubled in size as he imagined a room full of scientists as brilliant as himself spending their waking hours pushing the limit of their minds. He was sure that-

"YOU GUYS!" Tech and the others' fantasies were cut short at the bellow of their leader. Ace waited until he had their full attention.

"Sorry to boist your bubbles, guys, but no one is goin' anywhere." There was an unmistakable collective groan from everyone. Duck glared at Ace as he dropped his bag.

"Way to suck the fun out a room there, Ace."

"What I men' twas, dat we can't go anywhere, 'cuz we got jobs ta do, rememba? We can't just leave de city! Who knows what can happen while we're gone?"

"Oh, come on!" Duck whined, "There hasn't been a crime or evil villain causing chaos in months! Why do we always have to be in combat mode just on the off chance that 'something might happen'?" Lexi sighed and pouted in disappointment.

"Ace is right. We can't just all get up and leave the city. . ."

"Oh. . .not you too!" Duck whirled around on Lexi in disbelief. "What happened to wanting to meet royalty and eating fancy royal food and going shopping at the expensive royal Martian malls?"

"Maybe we should get Zadavia's opinion on the matter." Tech spoke up suddenly. As much as Ace had a point, the whole idea was too much of a temptation for him to let go. There was no way he'd let such an opportunity escape him without a fight.

"Yeah, let's hear from the boss-lady first." Duck backed Tech up, smug in the fact that he had the backing of the team's smartest member.

"You don't have the final say in everything, Ace. I'm sure she'll have a couple of things to say about this!"

* * *

"What do ya mean 'no'!" Duck stared in dumbstruck horror at the holographic image of their female leader. 

"I mean it is absolutely out of the question!" Zadavia stated firmly.

"B-b-bu-bu-bu-bu-but-but-" Duck stuttered dejectedly, unable to come up with a decent excuse. Why was it that Zadavia always seemed to favor Ace?

"There is too much at stake. The safety of Acmetropolis cannot risk having its only protectors millions of miles away."

"Eh, I thought that's why we had cops and an army here." Duck grumbled to himself, still unwilling to concede. The woman raised her eye at the comment, but chose not to respond to the careless remark

"But. . .what if we could serve use to the safety of Acmetropolis while on this trip?" Tech sudden spoke up, as his mind began formulate a coherent argument. Zadavia whirled around to face Tech, a bit shocked to hear the normally compliant coyote speaking up against her word.

"Is there something you wish to say, Tech?" Zadavia glanced at him, a bit curious about how he would try to rationalize such an obviously superfluous journey. Tech shifted a moment trying to recollect his thoughts, which had seemed so perfectly reasonable in his head, but were now appearing incredibly half-baked once he tried to voice them in a way that he hoped were acceptable.

"Well,. . .uh. . .ya see Mars is. . .I mean you do remember our planet's history, right?" He inwardly winced at such an obvious question. Since when in his life had he ever been at a loss for words! He must have been more nervous than he thought. There was a lot at stake to lose after all.

"I'm not _that_ well versed in Earth history, Tech." Zadavia stated

"Well,. . .we were in a quite devastating war with Mars for centuries. And it's only just now that they appear to want to make peace instead of. . well. . .taking over or destroying us. If our presence could help make a significant difference, then shouldn't we do what we can to make sure there isn't another war? If we don't show up, they could take it as. . .I don't know. . .a _snub! _Our history's shown us that Mars isn't exactly a planet that forgives easily. . .not to mention they're very militaristic while we have gone through some disarmaments over the years and have only recently tried to catch up. We don't want to start anything unnecessarily." Tech gritted his teeth as he finished his argument. Zadavia narrowed her eyes in scepticism, however she didn't shoot Tech down right away, appearing to mull the point over.

"I see something to your reasoning, Tech. . .," she began carefully, "We do not want to risk a war with another deadly enemy. I have confidence in Ambassador Johnson's capabilities, but if what you say is true about the Loonatics being a possible factor that could affect the result. . .I shall. . .consider it."

"YES!" Tech exclaimed in celebration along with everyone else. "And don't worry, with the communicators, you'll still be able to contact us if you need us. And with the modifications I made to the ship, we can get back to Acmetropolis in only a few minutes!" Tech assured their boss, just in case she decided to change her mind.

"I said I shall _consider _it." Zadavia stressed, not wishing to give the team too much false hope.

"I will contact you once I've made my decision."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3**

"What could be taking so long!" Duck griped aloud for the seventh time as he paced impatiently around the room.

"Relax, Duck," Lexi said as she looked up from her magazine. "Making a fuss isn't going to make the news come any faster."

Ever since Zadavia's call three days ago, Duck just couldn't keep still. There hadn't been any other disasters to take care of so far, and though most everyone had managed to try and find something to occupy their attention, the entire team was starting to get restless as the deadline drew near. If only the Acme Rangers hadn't decided to postpone their next game until the weekend after, Duck might have had something to distract him for a few hours.

"We wouldn't have to do all this waiting at all if Ace would've just let us go in the first place!" Duck glared at the other rabbit, who had been meditating in a corner, but had gotten up to advance on the mallard, insulted by the insinuation.

"So you're sayin' dis is all _my_ fault!" Ace jabbed a finger into the duck's chest. Duck stood firm by his accusation.

"If you hadn't opened up your big mouth-"

"Look who's talkin' about big mouts." Ace chuckled coolly back at the ruffled mallard.

"Why do you always have to boss everyone around?" Duck suddenly brought up, his ire already rising.

"Gee, Duck, I don't know,"Ace tapped his chin in mock contemplation, ". . .maybe it's because I'm da boss! 'Sides, I just did what I tought was right!" Ace voice raised as his normally placid temper started to wear thin.

"Not everyone is interested in what you _think!" _Duck snapped back.

"Will the both of you cut it out!" Lexi called back irritably to them. "I swear, you're like a couple of kids!"

"He started it!" The two pointed to each other in unison.

"You did so start it!" Duck accused as he shoved the bunny.

"Did not!" Ace defended as he pushed his teammate back.

"Did too!" The shorter duck was up in the rabbit's face now.

"Did not!"

"DID TOO!" Duck was practically screaming at this point.

"DID NOT!" Ace countered, trying to get his voice loud enough to match.

"I don't care who started it! The two of you better knock it off!" Tech shouted uncharacteristically from his seat at the table.

"If we _do_ go on this trip, your bickering isn't exactly going to make the best of impressions!"

"Okay, okay. . .let's all just calm down a bit." Lexi got up and placed herself between the guys before the argument gained a third member.

"I think we're all a little tense after all this time. We should all just take a step back to cool off." The pair continued to glare at each other, but appeared to back off a bit, until Ace muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

"What was that?" Duck asked suspiciously.

"None of your business." Ace snarled testily.

"Oh so we're back to _that_ again!"

"Back ta _what _again!"

"You think that just because Zadavia made you the leader that you don't have to answer to anyone and that you rule everything!"

"I neva said dat!"

"You didn't have to!"

"Ya know I'm getting sick and tired of you always-" Ace and Duck continued squabbling as they moved into the next room. Tech shook his head, as Lexi threw up her hands in defeat and went back to the table with her reading material.

"Well, at least it's a bit quieter around here." The coyote sighed to himself as he focused back on his mug of coffee.

"Speak for yourself!" Lexi couldn't help but comment. "It's times like this that I sometimes wish I didn't have super hearing." Their attention soon whipped back to the closed door as a loud crash issued from the adjacent hallway

"Hey, watch it will ya!" Ace's voice could be heard shouting from the other side. Luckily, before the fight could escalate any further, there was a call from Zadavia, and Lexi paged the rest of the team to come over to the meeting room.

When everyone was present and accounted for, Zadavia finally addressed them.

"I have contacted Ambassador Johnson," she began carefully, "and we've both discussed the situation at length."

"Oh please tell me I'm going to be spending the next couple of days viewing Acmetropolis through a telescope." Danger Duck pleaded with their benefactor, with wide-eyed longing.

"This isn't a vacation, Duck!" Zadavia snapped irritably. "You will all be partaking in a serious diplomatic mission. The alliance with Mars could be far more beneficial than previously thought. They are, after all, one of the leading technological societies in the galaxy, just as advanced as my own people.

"Despite their rather. . .questionable record with this and other planets, it might be wise to have a powerful ally willing and able to help defend Acmetropolis if for some reason we were unable to." From the worn out tone in her voice, it sounded as though it had taken a lot of convincing on Ms. Johnson's part to get Zadavia to agree. Still, the complete lack of enthusiasm permeated in her next words as the alien seemed to force them out against her better judgement.

"You will listen and follow any of Ambassador Johnson's instructions. I trust I do not have to remind you all to be on your best behavior and to take this trip seriously. In the meantime, I expect you all to keep communications open at all times and make sure to take a separate ship over there, just in case. If I call you at anytime while the final negotiations are taking place, you will all return back immediately, no excuses."

"Don't worry, Zadavia, we won't let the city down." Tech reassured the woman.

"Yeah, you can count on us." Lexi chimed in as well

"I know I can." The hologram returned a smile to the group, proud in the notion that they would do their very best for the good of the planet.

"Have a safe journey, Loonatics, and good luck. Zadavia out." As soon the holograph blinked off, the entire room save one burst into hugs and cheering. Ace stood aside from the others, staring at the empty projection before giving a half-hearted shrug of acceptance.

"I guess we'd betta start packin'." Ace muttered through the forced smile he flashed his teammates.

* * *

"Oh, I thought I'd never get another chance to use you again, baby." Tech whispered fondly to his space craft as he lovingly caressed the hull of his Space Stream 3000 flying saucer.  
"Did you miss me? What am I saying? Of course you did!" 

"Hey, Tech, you think you can stop making out with our ride long enough to get going?" Duck rolled his eyes at the disgusting display as he hoisted his enormous suitcase into the storage chamber.

"And I thought_ I_ might have packed too much." Lexi stared in amazement at the case as she put in her own medium sized suitcase.

"You think you brought enough stuff?"

"Yeah, we're only going to be there few days, not a few years." Tech smirked.

"I need to be prepared for all kinds of weather conditions," Duck replied proudly, knowing he had thought ahead, unlike the rest. He saw Slam walking toward the ship with a modest looking backpack.  
"Is that all you're taking? One never knows when a hailstorm or a heat wave or a tsunami may hit. I, on the other hand, am taking all the necessary precautions." Slam quirked a confused eye brow, before sighing and shaking his head at the duck's usual ridiculous jabbering. Slam continued to ignore the mallard's condescending glances, as he shoved his own pack into the small cargo space. Luckily, Rev popped up quick enough to spare the devil after a few seconds, as he addressed Duck in his hyperactive explanation.

"Well,-actually-considering-that-the-average-Martian-temperature-is-around-negative-81-degrees-Fahrenheit-with-a-maximum-temperature-of-68-and-a-minimum-of-negative-220-degrees-Fahrenheit,-combined-with-the-incredibly-thin-atmosphere-composed-mostly-of-carbon-dioxide-and-trace-amounts-of-oxygen-and-water-vapor,-it's-highly-unlikely-you'll-be-needing-anything-that-may-expose-any-part-of-you-to-the-environment-or-to-protect-you-from-liquid-precipitation,-although-there-have-been-known-to-be-generated-dust-storms-that-generally-occur-this time of year-in-the-southern-spring-and-summer-and-can-grow-to-encompass-the-whole-planet."

"In English please!" Duck snapped at the roadrunner. The last thing he wanted was a half-hour long lecture in some unfathomable science jargon.

"Lose the rain gear, the Hawaiian shirts and the swimsuit." Lexi, translated, amused.

"The snowboard might be pushing it as well." Tech added, teasingly. "Actually, our spacesuits should protect and properly insulate us against the harsh climate, so we don't really have to pack much."

"You couldn't have told us this last night! I guess this means I can say goodbye to any chance of swimming or sandsurfing on this trip." Duck moped as he ripped most of his belongings out of his case and tossed them aside carelessly on the floor of the hanger.

"Am I allowed to pack underwear, or do your fancy spacesuits make that unnecessary as well!" He snarled with dripping sarcasm at the coyote, while Slam chuckled aloud to himself at the sight of the distressed duck.

"Ugh, the thought of your shorts was definitely an image I did _not_ need!" Lexi grimaced as she shuddered to herself.

"Come on you guys, enough fooling around! The ambassador has probably already arrived at the palace by now!" Tech urged the others as he jogged inside the ship to prepare the launching sequence.

"Battling giant robots and monsters? Nothing to it! Defeating evil super powered villains? No problem! But packing, getting ready, and leaving according to a schedule? Not _that's_ a challenge not even the Loonatics can handle!" Lexi laughed as she and the others boarded the ship, before she noticed that Ace was lingering a bit behind, silently brooding and staring at nothing in particular.

Hesitantly, she spoke to him, her worry for his well-being apparent in her tone

"Hey, Ace, are you-" Before she could even complete her sentence, Duck's head peered from the side of the doorway, cutting off Lexi, much to her growing aggravation. Couldn't that duck have waited five more minutes to make his grand appearance!

If Duck noticed the withering glower she was directed at him at the moment, he either couldn't care less or was studiously ignoring it.

"Are you coming or what!" The mallard glared at the other rabbit, impatiently waiting for the last member to board so they could finally get going.

"What? Oh. . .yeah, I'm comin'." Ace seemed temporarily back from whatever trance he had been in as he answered back in a careless shrug.

Lexi watched Ace drag himself up to the deck and mechanically started to power his controls in preparation. Something was most definitely wrong! She had never known Ace to be so disturbed without reason. Even when he was at his most serious, he never appeared so cut off from the wold, so completely uninterested in his surroundings.

She would have continued to question his rather perplexing behavior, but the launching sequence required her utmost attention if they ever planned on getting off the ground. For now, she wouldn't address him and let him have his space, but she would definitely be keeping an eye on Ace until she could determine what action she should take.

* * *

Barely a word was spoken between the six occupants as the saucer ship sped through the vast expanses of space. Stars streaked by the windows as white dashes of light, and though most people would have probably marveled at the exquisite view, no one bothered to glance. It appeared as if Ace's moodiness might have been contagious, as the entire team noticed their fearless leader's edginess. Finally, unable to take the dead silence anymore, Lexi tapped on Ace's shoulder. 

"You okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure. . .I'm fine." Once more he had drifted into his own little world. And now it appeared he was trying his best to get back, if Lexi didn't act soon.

"You don't look it."

"I told ya, I'm fine!" Ace snapped suddenly, causing the girl to shrink back a bit, as she clearly had not expected such a sharp reaction.

"You've been moping around ever since we left!" Duck suddenly stepped into the fray, volunteering his own opinion on the matter, fed up with everyone acting so high-strung all because of the rabbit's meaningless tantrum.

"Are you going to be like this the whole trip? Because I want to know in advance!"

"Is there something you wish to tell us?" Tech decided to intercede before Duck's inconsiderate words provoked another fight.

"I don't wanna talk about it." The rabbit rubbed his temples, silently wishing that his friends would just leave him his space, even if they did think they were trying to help.  
"Dere's nuttin' _to_ talk about." Ace continued, as though trying to retract his first statement and deny even the existence of his troubling thoughts.

"Razthagrrubaithtss!" Slam patted the rabbit's back with surprising gentleness for his size.

"Yeah, Slam's right. We're your friends." Most of the others nodded, though no seemed to notice Duck's exaggerated eye rolls at the spectacle.

"It's just. . .it's kinda complicated. . .ya see. . .I. . .somethin' just feels a bit off is all."

"Off?-What-are-you-talking-about?"

"Dontcha tink it's pretty weird dat afta all dis time, dese people just decided one day dat dey wanna be buddies with our planet?"

"Ms. Johnson already explained that she had been talking to the rulers for months. That's hardly-" Tech began to explain some of the finer points, but Ace cut him off.

"Yeah, but why _now_, all ova sudden?"

"Ace, I can't believe you're cynical enough to deduce that there might be a latent ulterior motive behind this." The coyote shook his head at their leader's uncharacteristic suspicions.

"We don't know what dese people are like." The rabbit insisted.

"Oh and you're an expert?" Lexi prompted, irritation beginning to surface. Ace's face darkened as he remembered what he was taught as a young bunny. But somehow, he didn't think he could adequately explain just what he was feeling without seeming like a complete bigot.

It's just. . .my dad. He used ta tell me stories about dem. How my great great great great grandfadda actually met up with one of dem and every time, da little monsta was tryin' ta blow up de Eoith. For kicks!" That was what bothered him most. That someone would hold so little regard for life that they would destroy another world for little or no reason.  
"I mean we could just as easily all have been. . ._gone_, if it hadn't been for my ancesta stoppin' him all dose times. He almost got killed in da process all dose times. What if dat guy was just one of many? I mean dey did try ta take ova or destroy our planet durin' the war."

A war where most of the planet approved of their ruler's actions, Ace thought to himself. Where the people felt that Earthlings and other species were somehow inferior. Prejudices like that don't just go away unless steps were taken to educate the people. But somehow, Mars deciding to cut themselves off from the rest of the universe didn't exactly speak volumes of any radical changing attitudes.

"How do we know dey're not just bidin' dere time?"

"Oh for goodness sake, that was like a billion years ago! You're going to ruin this trip for us just because your stupid ancient ancestor met up with _one_ psycho Martian nutjob?" Duck stared at the rabbit with such disgusted disbelief. Was he actually trying to get sympathy because of what happened between some guys he never even met?

"Duck!" Lexi hissed

"What!"

"As untactfully as he put it, Duck makes a point. Ace, you can't just make assumptions about a whole planet based on a probable anomaly. And the war has past centuries ago. If the rest of our planet can get over what has happened, you should at least try to."

"I-mean-YEAH-can-you-imagine-what-those-guys-over-there-would-think-of-Acmetropolis-if-they-only-looked-at-all-the-bad-guys-we-had-to-deal-with-day-in-and-day-out-what-with-the-unleashing-mutant-spiders-and-causing-earthquakes-and-creating-evil-cloud-creatures-and-attempting-shrouding-the- planet-in-perpetual-darkness-MAN-they-would-think-we're-all-a-bunch-of-super-FREAKS!"

"You tink I don't know dat? I know it's wrong ta just pass judgements. . .but I still can't help feelin'. . .uneasy. I mean, ya never know, right?"

"It'll be okay, Ace. Just try and relax. We're here on a peace mission after all. And if it'll make you feel better, we'll all keep an eye out for trouble. I mean, that's what we're doing over there, right? Making sure everything goes off without a hitch."

"Yeah, sure." Ace said, though his voice betrayed that he was still troubled about the whole situation.

"So are we done with this bit of melodrama theater or what?" The way everyone seemed to be carrying on, you would think Ace had just announced that his grandma just died.

"Can't you just pretend to feel a little concern?" Lexi glowered angrily at the duck's obnoxious insensitivity to their friend's troubles.

"Concern? For what? Because Ace thinks that because his great father or whatever is some super champion and we should all be misty-eyed because of it?" Duck was shocked that he was expected to start crying tears for something so trivial. So for the first time in who knows how long, Ace wasn't the happy ray of confidence he normally was. There were worse things in the universe and the rabbit had always shrugged it off. Perfect Ace had to be 100 or else the world would implode. If it were anyone else on the team acting so stupidly, they'd all pass it off as nothing.

Well, . . .no. . .if it were himself, they'd shrug it off, teasingly assure him he was just being paranoid.

"Ya know," Duck decided to redirect the conversation to more favorable topic, "Ace isn't the only one who's had ancestors performing heroics. My great granddad was a famous space hero who-"

"Not this again." Tech rolled his eyes and most of the others groaned as they were about to be subjected to another one of the mallard's inane fantasies.

"Hey, how come you're all willing to listen to Ace's story but not mine?"

"Uh-Because-Ace-doesn't-make-up-_his_-stories?" Rev ventured innocently, as Slam snickered right next to him.

"I'm telling ya, it's the truth!" Why was it that no one ever bothered to take him seriously? He could be trying to warn them that the sun was about engulf them, and they'd just agree that he had been watching too many bad sci-fi movies. Duck tried to press on with his story, ignoring the fact that most of them weren't paying much attention anyway.

"You see, back in the twenty-first century-"

"Hold up! Twenty-first century?" Tech quirked an eye, before doing some quick mental math.

"I thought you said he was only your great grandfather? I think you're missing a few generations, Duck."

"Excuse me, would you just be quiet and let me finish! Anyway, as I was going to say before I was so _rudely_ interrupted," Duck glared at the coyote, silently warning him not to make any more comments, "my ancestor was an internationally acclaimed military hero back then. And there was a secret government agency which was doing a bunch of experiments involving freezing people. Very 'hush-hush' stuff. And he was personally selected to undergo the procedure so that he could continue working for them in the twenty-fourth and a half century."

"Twenty-fourth and a half?" Lexi smirked at such an obvious fib.

"Look I didn't make it up! That's just the way they talked back then, alright! Can I continue speaking please?" The mallard was starting to get more frustrated by the minute as he was continuously cut off.

"Sorry, Duck, but it looks like you'll have ta save story time for annudder day," Ace smiled genuinely for the first time in days as he pointed toward the red planet that was appearing in the front view window, "'cuz we're here." Duck's face fell in heartbroken disbelief as the rest of the team prepared to enter the planet's atmosphere.

"But. . .but. . .I was just getting to the good part!"

* * *

Sorry that Ace appears really, really, _really_ out of character. I basically felt that he ought to have some sort of flaws (since the show gives us nothing of the sort). So I made him a bit more tempermental than usual, especially when Duck openly challenges his authority. I really didn't feel like dealing with a Bugs clone.

Sort of ripped of Stiles from "Balance of Terror" (Star Trek TOS) for a bit at the end, though Ace was more toned down. I wasn't trying to make him a racist or anything. Since he has some personal family history, I figured he'd at least be subconciously affected and cautious about meeting with them, even though he knows it's wrong and doesn't want to let his emotions influence him during the mission. It's human (in this case rabbit) nature. You can't force yourself to change how you feel, but you can control how you act on those feelings until your heart comes to terms on its own. Hope this meager explanation calms some tempers about the complete butchering of a character.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4**

"According to the coordinates Ambassador Johnson e-mailed us this morning, we should be in close proximity to the Martian palace fairly soon." Tech announced to the group as he double checked his senors's output.  
"I estimate we'll at a reasonable landing distance in about five minutes. Everyone prepare to initiate descent sequence."

The Loonatics returned to their stations, focusing on their individual tasks, while the saucer started to slow as it began to approach the planet's atmosphere.

"Okay, now I just need to reverse the thrusters for a gradual vertical descent and we'll-" Tech was suddenly cut off as the entire deck pitched violently, knocking nearly everyone out of their seats and onto the floor.

"What was that!" Duck frantically glanced around the ship, half expecting the ship to spontaneously combust any second on its own accord.

"You should watch it wit dose landin's, Tech." Ace remarked, rubbing his bruised head as he got back onto his feet.

"It wasn't me, guys. I'm not sure what-" the coyote was cut short as the ship gave another lurch and the control panel began to shoot sparks. Rev typed furiously into the computer databanks over at his station and made a quick electronic scan of the ship, checking for any damages.

"We've-lost-power-in-one-of-the-engines!"

"Quick!" Tech began to order the others, "Revert more energy to the last remaining thrusters, set at maximum velocity and shift our trajectory 270 degrees!"

"What!" The others stared at their teammate in panic as they couldn't understand their instructions.

"Fire up our last engines and turn left!" Tech growled back impatiently.

"Well, why didn't ya say so in de foist place!" Ace forced down his growing irritation at his friend's insatiable need to complicate matters and steered the ship into a sharp left turn, away from the planet.

As the craft continued onward toward the emptiness of space, slipping father away from its previous destination, Ace turned to Rev to gather more information.

"Check de scannas ta see what hit us!" Rev nodded and studied the radar screen.

"This-really-something-weird,-Ace." Rev peered closer at a blinking green display, stunned there was nothing indicating anything in the area where they just were.

"I-can't-find-anything-in-the-area.-No-ships, -no asteroids,-no-nothing,-which-is-pretty-strange-since-you-would-think-that-if-we-got-hit-  
by-something-repeatedly-on-the-outside-there-would-be-some-evidence-to-its-existence,-but-there's-absolutely-NOTHING,-not-a-TRACE,  
-nada,-zip-zero,-nitchts,-niente,-rien-"

"Alright, we get it!"Ace snapped, at the roadrunner who was once again letting his mouth run off with no end in sight. Ace took a deep breath to calm down, and tried to get his teammate back to the matter at hand.  
"Any udda way of identifyin' de object? Heat sensas or maybe-" even as Ace spoke, Rev was already on the job. He needn't have bothered, as whatever the invisible thing was decided five seconds later to reveal itself. The blank green screen suddenly had a red dot that blipped into view out of nowhere, not far from where their saucer was. Rev's eyes widened as the object suddenly started changing its course and started heading straight toward them.

"It's-another-ship!"A split second analysis confirmed that the vessel was being piloted manually rather than being any kind of computerized security system."We're-being-tailed!"

"Another ship?" Lexi responded in confusion, since she could think of no other foe of theirs, except for one, who had access to space technology.

"But who would-" Before she could finish her question, Ace interrupted.

"Take a wild guess." Ace didn't need any fancy radar system to look out the window and see the vessel quickly closing in on them. It was Martian military command ship.

"They're firing at us!" Lexi shrieked as red rapid fire laser beams shot out of the enemy ship's twin cannons, battering through the saucer's forcefield and causing more extensive damage.

"What, again!" Duck lamented at the sheer absurdity of their ill luck. "Why is it that whenever we go into space, someone's trying to kill us? I mean how many enemies could we have made out here!"

"Enough, apparently." Ace answered back as he contemplated their next course of action, however, Tech managed to buy him some time as he relayed an unexpected message.

"We're receiving a subspace communication. I'm turning on the view screens so we can make visual contact with whoever is on board the other ship." The monitors in front of them filled with static as Tech quickly fiddled with the struggling computer system to find the right frequency.

When at last the screens were in focus, they showed a stern-looking, muscular Martian decked out in the traditional Romanesque-style military garb of Mars and surrounded by several drab olive, hovering robotic drones. The brawny alien, leaned forward in his command seat and glared at the Earthlings, silently conveying his own deep-seeded authority and dominance over them.

"Unidentified vessel, this is Commander A-1." The Commander began in a deep, threatening tone.

"You have trespassed into Martian territory. Surrender your ship or be destroyed."

"I don't suppose dere's an 'option tree' is dere?" Ace smirked a tad nervously, hoping that the Commander wasn't half as murderous as he looked. Even he couldn't be sure that the team could escape out of this alive if they provoked him too much. With their shields at half capacity and an engine shot, it would take more than a miracle to make it back home without worrying about being blasted out of existence.

Realizing the tenuous situation as well, Tech stepped up in hopes of playing diplomat.

"Sir," he began, catering to the hope that a formal address would convey a sense of respect good enough to allow the Martian to hear them out, "we had no idea that we were in any sense trespassing. We come as ambassadors-" The Martian Commander quirked an eyebrow at this, as though unfamiliar with the term. However, he made no comment but just continued to stare them down, as Tech continued

"You know, . . .representatives of another planet or culture to negociate-" At this, the Commander cut the coyote off, with a furious backlash.

"I KNOW WHAT AN AMBASSADOR IS YOU LONG-EARED LITTLE MUTT!" Tech instinctively backed up a step, shocked by the amount of sheer venom from the Martian, however, he steeled himself and would not let himself be deterred my a mere explosive temper.

"With all do respect,_ Commander_," Tech pressed on, his patience starting to wear down, "we were invited here as representatives of Earth by Ambassador Johnson of Acmetropolis. If you could just get in contact with her, she will no doubt vouch for our presence being legitimate here." The Martian waved a hand dismissively, indicating that whatever their arguments, the Earthlings' point was irrelevant.

"It is up to the Queen and King to decide whether or not to acknowledge you, not you or your citizens. You are not authorized by any recognized authority and I am bound to deal with you as Martian law dictates. As for Ambassador Johnson, I suspect that, even if your tale is true, it will not reflect positively on her or your world for her to omit such an action and purposely undermine the royalty's authority by not mentioning anything. I know that I, personally, don't take well to sneaks.

"So this is your last warning. Surrender now peacefully as my boarding team commandeers your ship, and I'll _maybe_ see to it that the Tribunal considers your ludicrous story. Resist, and we will be forced to exterminate you all."

Slam growled at the notion that they were about to be taken captive, and grunted a comment over to Ace.

"Yeah, dere a real friendly bunch." Ace answered back with equal sarcasm. He whispered low into Tech's ear out of the side of his mouth, just enough so that his voice wouldn't be picked up and transmitted by the audio to the other side.

"Tech, any chance of stallin' for time?"

"Stall? For what?" Tech hissed back as softly as his agitation would allow. "You can't seriously be thinking of trying to escape?"

"I don't know about you, but I don't feel comf'table spendin' my weekend in a Martian clink." Ace glanced back toward the Commander and sighed in defeat.  
"Alright Commanda, we know when we're licked. Tech, lowa da shields."

"Say what?" The rest of the team stared in shock that their leader was intentionally making themselves more vulnerable, when just two seconds ago he was looking for a way out.

"I said everyone get back ta your seats and lowa de shields." Ace stressed, making it clear he would not be taking any more questioning.

"Smart move, rabbit." The Martian Commander leaned back in satisfaction that he wouldn't have to waste any more time in a pointless battle with the creatures.

"So when are ya goin' ta come ova and take us down dere?" Ace asked curiously seeing as the Martian was making no move.

"I have put an alert out to the Centurions to launch the boarding team. They should be arriving in a matter of minutes."

"Okay, dat's just what I needed ta know." Ace smirked at the screen from his seat, before suddenly whipping his attention to Tech.  
"Take evasive maneuvers, now!"Ace barked. In a blink, the saucer craft fired up its last remaining thrusters and took off at a blinding speed.

"Why do they always run!" The Martian Commander snarled in furious frustration at being so easily deceived.

"All personnel back to your posts! Pursue the Earthlings' vessel and shoot it down! Take no prisoners! I repeat, shoot to destroy, not disable!" The Martian command ship engaged its engines and once more took off after the invaders.

"Raise da shield back! Tech, let's see if we can shake dem off!" Ace commanded, as the Martian ship was rapidly closing in.

"Hang on." Tech warned the rest of the crew as he pulled on the steering with all his strength to force the ship into a sharp vertical ship upward. The Martian vessel shot past them, but soon began a wide arc back around to continue its chase.

The Loonatics' saucer continued to pitch and weave in every direction hoping to lose the pursuers, however the Martians were relentless, managing to stay within range of them at almost every turn and chip away at the Loonatics' defenses with every shot.

"We-can't-take-much-more-of-this, Ace!-Our-shields-are-at-ten-percent-and-another-shot -will-probably-" As if in cue, the ship's deck exploded violently at one side as another devastating shot hit them. Though they were lucky enough that the walls hadn't ruptured, smoke poured out from the counsel, signaling that parts of their systems were disabled.  
"The-deflector-shields-are-down,-Ace!"

"Ace, this is serious! One more hit, and we're toast!" Lexi looked toward the team's leader for guidance on what they could do to escape alive.

"IT'S HOPELESS!" Duck howled as the ship continued to creak and bend under stress of so much abuse."ABANDON SHIP!"

Attempting to shut out the others' overwhelming distress, Ace's mind raced as he tried to formulate another strategy.

"Tech, any weapons on dis clunka?" The coyote made a face at his leader calling his precious creation a clunker, but decided to ignore the slight just this once.

"I hadn't exactly planned on us being in any interplanetary battles when we left, so I left most of the big guns back at headquarters. . .However, I might still have something left over in the storage area. Rev, can you-" The roadrunner zipped off the deck down to the cramped cargo area and returned with an armload of gadgetry, which he dumped on the floor next to Tech before the coyote could manage a breath to start his next word.  
"Lexi, take the wheel for a while. Let's see what we got here. . ." Tech allowed the rabbit to take his place at the head of the helm while he manually searched through the assortment of arms to find a suitable weapon.  
"Hmm, this looks promising. Then again. . ."

"Will you hurry it up already!" Duck urged, as a deadly laser shot whizzed past the window, barely missing them by a couple of inches.  
"Just pick something that shoots so we can make it through this in one piece! Ace, can't you just zap those guys with your laser eyes!"

"Wait a minute, will you?" Tech growled back at the mallard. "This can't be rushed. There are people in there! We need to find a way to stop them without killing them."

"Despite the fact dat dey seem poifectly content on killin' us on dere own." Ace muttered sarcastically, silently wishing he could just blast the oppressors out of the sky.

"Ah hah! My ElectroMechanic Energy Disrupter Ray! Perfect!" Tapping a few buttons, Tech sent a signal for the attachment to come up through the middle of the floor so he could hook up the gun to the ship's weapons systems.

Tech stood in the middle of the bridge, using the elevated viewing eye-piece to aim the ray below them back at their target.

"Okay. . .steady. . .and. . .NOW!" Tech pressed the two buttons in his hands to shoot the disabler at the ship behind them. The beam flew behind the saucer heading straight for the Martian craft, only to fly over the top as the craft just barely dodged the shot.

"Well _that_ worked!" Danger Duck snapped at Tech's inefficiency to get them out of peril. Tech ignored the comment but grumbled in frustration at the increasing danger they were facing.

"It's going to be nearly impossible to get a good shot in while we too busy trying to duck their attacks. We need to get behind them. If only we could divert their attention long enough to-"

"I'm way ahead of ya, Tech." Ace smirked as an idea popped into his head. "Lexi, head inta dat asteroid belt!"

"What are you insane!" Lexi turned toward the team leader with a look of horror at the harebrained suggestion "We can barely dodge the Martians shooting at us, let alone avoid a millions rocks hurling at us the same time! We'll never make it out alive!"

"Just do it!" Reluctantly, Lexi followed her orders and drove the saucer further and further away from the red planet and out toward the treacherous asteroid field.

"I knew you were stupid, rabbit, but even I didn't think you were suicidal!" Duck clutched at his seat in dread as he glared at Ace.

"Could ya please save your comments until afta we get out of dis?"

Boulders of various sizes rained toward them at all angles as Lexi yanked the steering back and forth to avoid collision. Even the tiniest pebble was equivalent to a bullet as they bombarded the outer hull at the intensely high speeds.

Behind them, the Martians were following their every move from their scanners. A robotic Centurion turned toward its Commander with its findings.

"Sir, the Earthlings are heading into the asteroid belt. Shall we give chase?"

"Follow them. We need to be absolutely certain they do not leave alive." The command ship continued its course of action and spotted the saucer duck behind a large asteroid.

"The vessel has retreated behind an asteroid. 500 meters and closing, 77 degrees from our position."

"Disintegrate it." Deadly lasers blasted from the twin cannons toward the flying piece of rock, reducing it to dust and small chunks of debris.

"No visual confirmation of the enemy ship. It is possible it was destroyed in the process."

"Scan the area for any sign of wreckage." The head Martian ordered his drones.

"Negative. Scanners are picking up no trace of metal debris or bodies." Another Centurion at the Commander's right spoke up afterward as the computer system began to show signs of life.

"Sir, radar has detected a small energy flux in the immediate area. It appears to be originating from another asteroid ahead of us."

"Crafty little pests, aren't they?" The Commander leaned back in his seat overlooking his steepled fingers, mildly impressed with the Earthlings' resourcefulness in once again averting destruction.  
"Very well. Head toward the source, however, double back and approach from below from the opposite direction. I'd rather us have the element of surprise on our side and have their eyes forward and their backs toward us." Once more the vessel took off, hot on the trail of the electrical signal. A hovering robot turned to the Commander.

"The signal has started moving and is drifting behind a farther asteroid."

"Don't lose them. It appears they may be aware of our presence after all. But based upon the low speed it is going at, it is possible they don't know our exact position and are trying to avert our attention by lying low. Stay on them, but lower speed eighty-five percent. Make no move to give us away until we make visual contact."

The craft slowed to a craw as it tentatively drifted through the field, attempting to sneak behind the Earthlings' craft without spooking them into another highspeed chase. A few more meters and they would be right on top of them.

As they turned toward the Earthlings' hiding place, the Commander narrowed his eyes in confusion as he failed to see the saucer at the coordinates the sensors relayed the signal as emitting from.

Confusion quickly morphed into rage as the Martian spied an odd-colored hulking creature in a space suit standing on top of the large rock. The devil smirked toothily as he waved a small handheld device that was blinking a light in tantamount to the signal they had been receiving on radar.

"It's a decoy!" Behind the Commander's ship, the Loonatics' ship lay in wait, hidden from detection with the ship's power off. The Martian ship's scanners immediately began picking up another object that had previously been invisible to them as the saucer's engines roared back to life and shot a ray from its weapons charger.

The Martian ship quaked violently from the impact of the attack before falling eerily silent as all the their mechanical and electrical systems were forced offline.

"We did it!" Lexi cheered, hugging Rev and the comforting notion that they narrowly adverted their own demise.

"Nice work, Slam." Ace commented through their comm link. On the view screen, the Tasmanian Devil smiled back and began hopping back from asteroid to asteroid to make his way back to the ship.

"That de-energizing field won't hold them for long." Tech informed the team as he glanced back at the disabled vessel. "We have little over an hour at most before they're free. We have to move!"

"Fine with me." Duck crossed his arms, anxious to put much distance between himself and their would-be assassins. "I think I can actually live without being a famous space hero just this one time. I mean, hey, I've already seen pictures of the place. Let's get out of here while we still can." Rev nodded in eager agreement with that assessment.

"I'm-going-to-have-to-side-with-Duck-on-this-one,-for-once." Unfortunately, for the two of them, Ace negated that option with a sad shake of his head.

"Sorry, guys, but if dose Martians are bein' hostile as dey are, den Ambassador Johnson is probably in woise trouble dan we are. You hoid what dat guy said. She could end up in big trouble wit dose guys because of us. We can't just leave her dere."

"We couldn't go back even if we wanted." Tech frowned as he ran a systems check on his computer.

"That last hit completely took out our energy reactor and we're running only on a rapidly draining battery. We wouldn't make it back Earth in time."

"So what can we do?" Lexi turned to the scientist, anxious to hear what he had in mind.

"Our only hope is to make an emergency landing immediately on the planet. I can take some time to make repairs. Then the only problem will be figuring out how to power it back up. Unless I can build some new energy cores or we find some kind of fuel reserves on the planet, we're going to be stuck there."

"Somehow I don't tink dose guys down dere are goin' ta be willin' ta lend us a few tousand tanks of gas, Tech." Ace muttered at what sounded like an impossible plan.

"Well, we have no choice!" Tech sat at his chair and began the engines again. They had only a few minutes left to get back to Mars and land before their power completely gave out.

"Well, you hoid de man. Everyone back at your stations." Ace commanded as the ship took off back toward Mars.

* * *

Well, this might be the last chapter for a while. I'm leaving the state for over two weeks. See you in August. 


	6. Chapter 6

Had this chapter finished last week. Unfortunately, the site wasn't letting me upload documents for a long time. And for some reason, it isn't using the usual break lines. Sorry. **  
**

**Chapter 5**

Landing on the red planet proved to be just as life threatening as getting past the border patrol, as the saucer barely managed a brutal crash landing without the entire hull falling apart during reentry.The Loonatics put on their space suits and stumbled out onto the not so barren landscape.

"That's odd." Tech glanced around the area which appeared to be an overgrown forest of an entirely scarlet tint. Cherry-dyed leaves bloomed among the rows of trees as ruby grasses and bushes carpeted the landscape."Yeah. What's wit all da trees?" Ace tapped the crimson trunk of what resembled an oak as if to test whether or not it was real."I tought dis place was supposed ta be a wasteland."

Behind him, Duck was examining a crystal pond filled with tiny jade ducks swimming and splashing merrily about.

"They must have been planted here over time, since there hasn't been surface water or plant life on this planet since 1948." Tech whipped out a handheld computer and began to scan the rest of the planet for anything else unusual.  
"According to my portable quadrecorder, the atmosphere is reading a higher percentage of nitrogen and oxygen than normal. And the temperature is up to 43 degrees Fahrenheit. It's entirely livable here for us."

"I though Rev said that was impossible." Lexi pointed out, remembering the roadrunner's lecture of the planet's inhospitable conditions.

"I know, but it's possible that an artificial atmosphere was constructed sometime in the past." Tech theorized. How else could they explain the absolute turn about in the climate?

"Does this mean we can lose the clingwrap?" Duck gestured to his space suit, eager to get out of the suit that hampered his powers.

"If you want, but your uniforms won't protect from the cold."

"You should have packed a sweater, Duck." Ace chuckled at his own joke, however Duck failed to see any humor at the comment as he shoved the rabbit out of his way while stalking back to the ship.  
"Sheesh, Duck, it was just a joke."

"I don't care about your stupid jokes!" Duck quipped back as he peeled off his clear space suit.

"Den what's your problem?" Ace pressed on, starting to get annoyed at the mallard's vagueness and sudden coldness toward him.

"What's my problem? _You're_ my problem!" Duck glared furiously at the bunny as he kicked off the rest of his suit.

"Ya know, you'd tink dat you'd show a little more gratitude for da guy who helped get ya here in one piece." Duck's eyes flashed dangerously as his temper threatened to boil over.

"Excuse me? Why should we be thanking you? This whole mess is all your fault! If you had just listened to that Martian instead of trying to butt heads, we wouldn't be stranded here without a ride home!"

"Yeah, we'd be stuck in some dungeon wonderin' if we'd eva see da light of day again!" Ace countered back with his own reasoning.

"But you nearly got us all killed!"

"In case ya didn't notice, we're not dead. Get over yourself!"

"The both of you better shut up right now! I mean it!" Lexi screamed back over the shouting duo. The sudden disturbance startled the wildlife and sent the Martian ducks flapping for cover.

As far as Lexi was concerned, they had no more time for arguments. She turned to the mallard in front of her, shooting down any more protests before they left his beak.

"Duck, Ace got us through this! We're here and breathing. That's all that matters right now! Now if you can't say anything that can help us, then don't say anything at all. " Duck opened his beak to argue some more but swiftly shut it after one withering look from the pink bunny.

Ace knew better than to try and argue with Lexi when she was like this, but he couldn't help sending Duck a smug smirk, signaling that he had basically won the argument. The duck said nothing as he strolled back to the pond, glancing around to see if any of the waterfowl might return.

"How are we doin', Tech?" Ace turned his attentions to the coyote, who was tinkering around with the ship's engine.

"Not so good. We took a lot of damage back there. More than I had previously estimated. If I had all my equipment that's back in the hanger, I could have fixed this in a few hours. But I have few of the proper tools necessary. I had hoped that I might have been able to repair most of the damage, but I see little point in it until we find a way to get off the ground. As much as I'm afraid to say it, our only chance might be to find another ship."

"I don't suppose anyone knows a place to rent a cheap slightly used flying saucer?" Duck suggested, not expecting anyone to answer him. Lexi pondered over the dilemma, until a thought struck her.

"Hey, those Martian soldiers have ships. Maybe we can use one of theirs. I mean, since we were planning on heading to the palace anyway." At this, Duck couldn't help but scoff.

"Are you suggesting we just stroll into the Martian palace and take a ship, just like that?" Like one Martian and his band weren't deadly enough, now they were considering marching into their stronghold?

"Dat's exactly what's we're suggesting." Ace perked as a coherent plan was starting to come together.

"Good idea, Lexi. We'll just borrow one of dere own ships."

"You mean steal." It was a statement, not a question as Tech looked up from where he was working, a note of disapproval in his tone.

"Well,-on-the-other-hand-you-don't-have-to-say-we're-stealing,-more-that-we're-borrowing- something-that-isn't-ours-without-asking-permission-and-with-having-no-intention-of-returning-it-anytime-in-the-near-future,-if-ever." Rev grinned, ignoring the frowning coyote. So long as they could all get back home, Rev was willing to bend the rules to do whatever it took. Tech sighed as rubbed his greasy paws with a rag.

"I'm going to stay behind to see if I can do something to our ship. I'd rather we didn't go to such extreme measures if we don't have to."

"Razzzafrathazzapadaviahttafuthaazzrraphphtr." Slam suddenly spoke up toward Tech. The coyote slapped his head at his own ineptness of overlooking the obvious.

"Of course! Why didn't _I_ think of that! Zadavia has a spare shuttle craft back at her headquarters. And we still have our communicators. We can just call her and have her pick us up!" Slam grinned proudly as the coyote patted him on the back for his quick thinking.

"Hey yeah! And to tink, all dis time, we tought _you _were de genius, Tech." Ace smiled teasingly at the scientist.

"Don't push it." Tech frowned as he went back into the wreckage of the saucer. When he returned he was holding several handheld metal boxes.

"What are dose?"

"Well, as long as we're here, I figured you could still make your way to the palace to check up on Ambassador Johnson. Perhaps you can then try to reason with the rulers. We're still representatives of Earth, whether they choose to acknowledge us or not as diplomats. Our actions will reflect negatively on Earth if we don't try to make amends.

"I designed these scooter as easy to pack transport vehicles since the bikes and jetpacks wouldn't fit in the saucer hold. Just press the button at the top to activate them." Tech handed one out to Ace, Lexi and Duck. The boxes quickly shifted and rebuilt themselves as things resembling a couple wheelless, pet powered skateboards with handheld steering.

"Cool." Duck hopped upon his scooter, impressed with the hi-tech toy.

"I just came up with them last night. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to get a chance to test them, so they're just prototypes. However, they should work just fine so long as you go easy on them."

"Ahhhh, how do you steer this thing!" Duck's panicked scream rang out shrilly over the heads of the others as he jetted higher into the air, clutching the scooter. He rocketed through the woods out of sight before returning and crashing back down into the ground.

"Be careful with that!" Tech checked his baby to make sure there was no permanent damage, ignoring the prone mallard at his feet "The controls at the handles are self explanatory. You steer it just like the hoverbikes. And the built in GPS should help you to your destination. I'll just enter the last coordinates I had for the palace into your navigational computer and you'll be all set to go."

"Sounds simple enough." Ace said as he hopped onto his own scooter.

"I could still use some help salvaging what we can from the ship, if any of you are up to it." Tech reminded them before they all took off.

"Slam, Rev, you stay here and help Tech. And see what you can do about contactin' Zadavia. Lexi, Duck, you come with me ta da palace. Dose Martians are goin' ta have guests dere, whedder dey want ta or not."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''  
Far from home, floating among the remaining wreckage of a long forgotten former planet, a lone ship sat silently in space. However, inside harbored a chaotic contrast to the outside as a enraged Martian stormed the darkened hallways looking for his crew and any answers.

The only light available was from the distant sun and the infinite stars around them, streaming through a few windows. Even as his eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, he could just make out the fallen bodies of his robotic Centurions. Apparently, whatever hit them, not only knocked out the ship's power, but affected anything that was even remotely electrical or mechanical. Which left only his flesh and blood Martian crew to set things right.

Stumbling through the dark, the Commander managed to feel his way to the engine room and just made out the bodies of two of his men.

"Status report."

"We're not sure what happened, sir. As near as we can tell, the engines aren't damaged physically. We tried replacing the energy core, however to no avail. Something is interfering with the system's electrical signal."

"Any chance of getting a message out for a rescue shuttle?"

"Negative. All out communications are being jammed by an outside force."

"An outside force you say?" The Commander pondered this, everything finally clicking into place.

"Whatever those Earthlings hit us with has shut down all electrical powered mechanisms of and in the ship. A disrupter of a sorts. Soldier, what is the necessary amount of power needed for a standard disrupter to put an entire ship of this magnitude out of commission?"

"I'm. . .not sure Commander. It would have to be immense by my guess. But unless it was in a concentrated field, it wouldn't be as complete as this one. A wider range would be thinner, less intense and would allow some small electrical impulses through. Unless of course it was being shot from a stationary generator. But it would have to be enormous in diameter for that to occur."

"Well, I doubt those creatures have planted a city-wide electrical disrupter out here in the asteroid belt. Which means as soon as we get out of range of the disrupter field, we'll have power." Perhaps the situation wasn't as hopeless as it appeared after all. The second soldier shook his head in defeat.

"The ship is down. There is no way to move it out of range. And for all we know, the signal could be keyed onto the ship itself, not just the immediate area. Even if we somehow managed to move the ship, we could still be stuck." The Commander glared at the lower ranking soldier.

"I'm quite aware of that!" The superior officer sneered. "However, if it is only affecting the main vessel, anything unattached to it could still be removed." He turned toward the door before making one last announcement.

"Gather the rest of the crew and have them ready for departure in the space dock in fifteen minutes. The doors can still be opened manually, and if we can manage to push the emergency shuttles outside into open space, we might be able to pilot them once we are far enough away from the command ship.

"Those Earthlings mentioned their eagerness to meet with the human ambassador. I'm positive they will try to make contact with her. We must make it back to the palace. . .even if I have to push these shuttles back to Mars an inch at a time!"

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''  
They had been traveling for almost an hour, which was pretty good time at the speed they were going, as they traversed over hundreds of miles over various terrain. For protection purposes, the palace was supposed to be at the edge of the vast Martian desert, or as close to a desert as Mars could muster. Though the ravaged sands were probably considered a deathtrap to the natives, who were used to more frigid climates, it felt more like a hot summer's day across a sandy beach to the three foreign travelers. Uncomfortable, but not life threatening.

"Okay. . .accordin' ta Tech's coordinates, the palace should be. . .right ova dat sand dune." Ace announced as he Lexi and Duck coasted over the waves of orange sand hills. They easily sailed over the dune and their eyes were met with the sight of. . .more sand. Miles and miles of it in all directions with no near end in sight.

"Or not." Lexi concluded as she surveyed the desolate area.

"Dat can't be right." Ace narrowed his eyes, trying to see if he spotted something in the distance. "Dese are de right coordinates. Why isn't anyting here?"

"Oh great! We're lost!" Duck wailed as their esteemed leader just seemed to be leading them from one horrible situation to the next.

"On a freezing desert planet with no food, no water, no shelter, and a home to bunch of people who live with the attitude of 'shoot first, ask questions later!'"

"Perhaps we should find a local to ask directions." Lexi suggested, since it was obvious they had no idea where they were on the strange planet.

"Ask directions!" Duck asked, his panic escalating by the second. "We're in the middle of nowhere! Who are you going to ask!"

"Maybe the little squirt on his way to the toga party can help us." Ace pointed at a scrawny little white-haired Martian boy about seven or eight years old dressed in a crimson tunic and sandals. The Martian did not seem to notice the strangers as he sat in the salmon-colored sand, glancing up at the vast peach tinted sky for a few seconds before tapping away at a PC balanced on his lap.

"Where'd _he_ come from?" Duck asked curiously, since he saw nothing resembling civilization in the area.

"Who cares? I'm sure he can help us." Lexi stepped off her scooter to approach the boy.

"Except for one problem." Duck grabbed Lexi back before she gave away their presence. "How do we know he won't rat us out to the local law enforcers once he sees us?"

"As amazing as it is, Duck makes a good point." Ace agreed with the observation. So far he hadn't seen anything to convince him that the people on the planet were trustworthy as far as strangers were concerned.

"Maybe we shouldn't risk it." Lexi just rolled her eyes at what appeared to be displaced paranoia from the two guys.

"Come on, he's just a kid. What can he do?" Duck, however, refused to give in to the rabbit's arguments.

"He can tell mommy and daddy about the weirdo trespassing Earth creatures, who will then tell the cops and the national guard and the killer robots who will shoot us and burn us like toast the minute we walk into the palace."

"And just how do you expect us to _find_ the palace if we have no idea where it is?" Lexi prompted. Yeah, there was a chance they could be exposed, but the way she saw it, it was a necessary risk. At least they wouldn't be wandering around in circles for days unless they stumbled over the place by accident. Ace seemed to consider this and came to the same conclusion.

"Alright, we'll just have ta chance it. Just act normal and maybe he won't notice anything weird about us." Besides the fact that they were two uniformed Earth rabbits and a duck on floating scooters in the middle of nowhere asking directions to one of the most private locations on the planet.

Ace visually searched the now vacant spot where the kid had disappeared from.

"Hey, where'd he go?"

"You weren't watching him?" Lexi asked in concern that Ace hadn't kept an eye on him. What if the little brat had already spotted them and took off to notify others!

"No. Weren't you?"

"I thought Duck was watching him?" Lexi pointed back at the mallard.

"Me!" Duck countered in shock that he was being dragged into this. "Why would I be-"

"Whatcha doin'?" Behind the trio, a small curious voice suddenly piped up, startling them out of their argument. The small child peered up at the three strangers inquisitively with oversized blue eyes, as Ace was the first to recover.

"Eh, hey there, kid. We were just passing through the neighborhood and we were wonderin' if. . .eh, are you here by yourself. . .?" For someone supposedly cool under pressure, Ace was sure seeming to do his best to beat around the point, Duck thought. Time for the direct approach.

"Oh for goodness sake, just ask him how to get to the Martian palace so we can get out of here!" The boy seemed to ignore Duck as well as anyone else on Earth did, since he addressed Ace first as though his feathered friend hadn't spoken a word.

"I'm not alone. There's a military camp set up nearby. Would you like me to take you there? I'm sure the soldiers there could help you." Ace grimaced at the thought.

"Eh, no thanks, we wouldn't want to bother them." The last thing they needed to do was to run into more military personnel. The boy, however, failed to see any problem and continued to press the issue, trying to be as helpful as possible.

"No bother at all. They live to serve the public and all that."

"Somehow I don't think we'd be as welcomed by them as you'd think." Duck muttered under his breath.

"You two are hopeless." Lexi crouched down to the boy's eye level and offered a friendly, reassuring smile.

"Don't mind those two. Listen, we're on an important mission and we're a bit lost. Could you please point us in the direction of the nearest town?"

"There's a village not far from here. About 5 miles that way." The Martian pointed westward. Lexi nodded in appreciation.

"Great!"

"We should get dere in no time." Ace climbed back on his scooter. "Tanks kid."

"Anytime." The Martian waved at the Earthlings as they prepared to take off. He picked up his laptop and began fiddling with it again.

"Of course if you want to get to the palace it's 1500 miles in the opposite direction. The Loonatics halted in midflight at the words and turned around. Duck glared at the kid, who once again failed to notice him.

"Stupid, kids." he muttered to himself as he and his teammates took off and left the Martian in far behind them.

"Pfft, tourists." The boy shook his head in irritation as he went back to his computer.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''  
"Well, Your Highness, . . ." The human woman looked toward the Martian Queen, unsure how to address her, "this is a very extraordinary proposal you are offering."

"We don't think so in the least." The Martian female answered calmly as she passed the document back over the table to the Earth woman. Ambassador Johnson perused the contract yet again and still had trouble believing its written content.

"But so much?"

"Trust me on this, it is necessary." The other woman insisted as she tucked a loose lock of her marshmallow-colored hair back up into place.

The Ambassador frowned at the statement. Any agreement to the contract would have Acmetropolis paying trillions of dollars.

"For whom, may I ask?"

"Have you taken a good look at your defenses lately? If we felt like it, Mars could easily take over your planet _today_. Luckily for you, we lost interest in Earth for potential conquest years ago." She let the Earthling mull over the thinly veiled threat for a bit while she absentmindedly smoothed a wrinkle out in her long ivory tunic.

"I don't think the people of my planet will approve of trading with Mars for such items. . .and in such an exuberant quantities. Perhaps, your society feels that the best defense is a good offense, but Acmetropolis is not populated with people who feel the need to continuously build up an arsenal of dangerous weapons to such an insane degree."

"A problem that has continuously come back to bite your people no less. I mean no offense, Ambassador, but considering your planet's history of attracting invaders bent on mass genocide, this really should come more as common sense. And to be frank, the number of people lining up to destroy your planet hasn't looked as though it's diminished after all this time. Especially with that nasty business with the wormhole, several months ago."

"How did you know about that?" The Queen's cold blue eyes narrowed a stare back at the human, relaying the ruler's feeling of insult at being asked such an elementary question.

"The thing appeared out of nowhere and was more than large enough to encompass your whole planet and any neighbors. It was fairly hard to _miss._"

"Even if we did agree the need to have Mars supply Earth with more advanced technology, the price you are asking is outrageous!"

"I realize it may seem a bit steep, but the truth is Mars has been going through some. . .rough patches lately. And not every civilization is given the wealth of resources your planet has gotten through sheer chance. Rather than you waste your money giving out financial handouts and suffer centuries of debt as your government is often prone to, we feel we can at least offer something in exchange." Johnson still felt wary about the dubious offer, even if the reasoning behind it appeared sound.

"I shall. . .take this into consideration. You do realize that I cannot authorize any agreement until I take this up to the Mayor and the Head Council?"

Sitting next to the Queen, another Martian leaned on his elbow in resigned silence, mindlessly drumming his white-gloved fingers in wait while staring at nothing in particular. His partner's annoyed and condescending tone snapped him out of his daydream.

"Are we boring you?" He glanced up startled.

"What? Oh no, no, no. . .well. . . yeah," he finally admitted, before turning to address the Earth Ambassador. "Sorry, but we've been waiting all day for these Acme heroes of yours to show up. Are they coming or not?"

"I'm sure they'll be along any minute." The Ambassador tried to reassure the Martian King, who hardly seemed convinced as he ran his fingers through the crimson scrub brush of his dark green helmet.

"So you've been saying." At this point, the Queen decided to step in and get the man to do something productive with his time.

"Well, since our discussion seems to be beneath your concern, why don't you go out and make yourself useful? Perhaps supervise the recruits training, feed the dog, or see if you can get that little lagging uhlan of ours to finally get up to speed."

"Fine, I can tell when I'm not wanted." The shorter Martian huffed as he slid from his seat to leave the room.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''  
"This is it?" Lexi looked up at the rusty looking building. Its once magnificent and imposing scarlet facade, which she had seen in old artwork and textbook pictures, had faded over time and neglect. A number of the windows were cracked or broken and at least two more were missing altogether. Some of the masonry was crumbling at the sides, allowing the beginning sprouts of wild weeds to grow along the exterior wall. Even the electronic gate guarding the point of entry didn't appear to close all the way. What had happened to the place? Duck apparently mirrored her thoughts.

"Yeesh, what a dump!"

"Maybe dey're redecoratin'." Ace joked halfheartedly. Duck continued to examine the palace in disbelief.

"For what? 'The Galaxy's Most Ugly, Beaten-Up Mansion Lookalike Contest'?" Ace shrugged his shoulders, and pressed the button on his scooter which would revert it back to its easy to store cube shape and tucked it into his pocket.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's see if anyone's home." Still a bit wary about entering such a creepy looking place, Duck gave a whisper of a knock on the door.

"Okay nobody's here! Let's go!" He turned around to leave as Ace grabbed his arm and held him back.

"Hold on dere, Duck. We didn't even ring da doorbell, yet." Slipping his fingers into the open crack of the doorway, the rabbit pulled with all his strength to force the doors apart to let them in. The hallways were dimly lit by green torches, adding to the dismal atmosphere.

As the three continued to explore the maze of hallways, they began to notice something far more unnerving than the building's lack of light or maintenance.

"Is it just me, or does it seem that we should have met someone by now?" Lexi whispered to her teammates. Behind her, Duck spoke up.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, dis is a royal palace afta all." Ace joined in Lexi's sense of foreboding. "Shouldn't dere be some sorta security or guards ta watch da place?" The three continued their search as they entered a spacious, though completely empty mess hall. When they finally reached the exit at the end of the hall, the doors opened to reveal a swarm of robotic guards already waiting for them to arrive.

"You and your big fat mou-" Duck was cut off as Ace tackled him to the ground, barely managing to dodge the shot that was aimed right toward them.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''  
"Shuttle craft EMC-2 to Imperical Palace, Dock 24, do you read?" A Centurion on duty answered the hailing frequency and was met face to face with a screen displaying the image of one of the most decorated Commanders in the fleet.

"Dock 24, to shuttle craft, we read you."

"This is Commander A-1, requesting permission to make an emergency landing at the palace."

"Permission granted, sir."

"Notify Commander M-2 of our arrival. Tell him to meet me at the hanger immediately." Obediently, the robot contacted the only other Commander in the palace through his handheld communicator. Within seconds to relaying the message, Commander M-2 evaporated into the landing bay to await the arrival.

The dock doors slid open, allowing the craft to hover in to land. The hatchway lifted to reveal Commander A-1 and several of his soldiers exiting. The two Commanders saluted each other briefly before A-1 turned to question his comrade.

"You received my message?"

"It was a bit hard to make out, but we were able to decipher it eventually." M-2 relayed.

"Well?"

"The intruders headed toward the palace, just as you predicted they would." The other Commander smirked in satisfaction at the news.

"Any captures?"

"Several Centurions were sent to block their route and terminate them. So far, we received word that there are only three of them confirmed to be in the palace. The others' whereabouts are unknown." At this, A-1 frowned, as he had been hoping the threat would have already been dealt with by the time he had arrived. Apparently, the Centurions were having trouble if it was taking this long for them to eliminate only three Earthlings. Not to mention that the others were unaccounted for and were wandering free.

"My men and I will see to it that the Earthlings are disposed of. Send troops to scout the palace and its surrounding areas. I want the rest of them located as soon as possible. Do the Queen and King know of our plight?" Commander M-2 shook his head.

"We have yet to inform them. This was a highly unanticipated encounter, and there wasn't time to seek approval if we intended to capture the-."

"I'll need to notify them immediately." The other Martian interrupted as he headed toward the entrance way. "Take my crew and join the Centurions in apprehending the Earthlings. I'll join you soon afterward."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''  
Plasma laser shots flashed in just below him, as Ace leapt up to dodge them, eyes glowing yellow as he returned laser fire. Three Centurions exploded into scorched pieces of scrap metal.

Behind him, Lexi frantically sent pink blasts to take out at least ten more droids, only to have two more seem to come in replacement for each one that she disabled.

Duck's luck was little better as he attempted to teleport to a safe spot to attack. There were so many robots that no matter where he landed, he wound up in the line of fire of another. It was taking all his concentration to just quack out of sight the next split second to avoid more laser blasts.

"Hold still!" One Centurion growled in frustration as he continued to miss the elusive mallard.

"I'll get back to you on that request later." Duck laughed as he continued to evade the robots' shots.

Finally giving up on trying to get behind any of his assailants, the mallard decided to attack head on and deliberately quacked between a circle of three robots before disappearing. The shots that followed afterward from each Centurion missed their original target and resulted in each robot demolishing one of their own. Three more down.

Bouncing onto the shoulders of another unsuspecting guard, Duck launched himself into the air and began throwing random orbs at the robots, heedless of what exactly they contained. Some of the the orbs exploded on contact as miniature bombs, while several others coated the mechanical guards with a sticky brown slime. The goo must had managed to leak into the circuitry, since after a few seconds, blue sparks of electricity shot out as the Centurions twitched and jerked erratically before slumping to the ground, deactivated.

Back on the ground, Duck accidently managed to step into the ooze, then raised his eyebrows as he recognized the familiar sweet confection.

"Maple syrup?" He surveyed the destruction the syrup managed to inflict onto the Centurions, and shrugged his shoulders. "Well whatever works. WOAH!" The mallard just managed to sidestep another shot from a robot that escaped Duck's onslaught.

On the other side of the room, a swarm of robots decided to overwhelm two of the intruders through sheer numbers. Their strategy was beginning to take its toll on Lexi and Ace, as the two bunnies were backed into a corner together. Lexi continued to shell out more brain blasts to take out several more Centurions before they could close in further. So far, she couldn't tell if they were anywhere close to winning this fight.

"They're everywhere! Just how many are there are?" At her left, Ace was firing longer and stronger laser blasts at any robots within eye range.

"Ya know, Lexi, I didn't exactly stop ta count dem." The two rabbits simultaneously somersaulted over and behind the Centurions and let loose a wild stream of energy to completely obliterate their attackers. There were only a few more left.

Whipping out his collapsible, unbreakable sword, Ace sliced away at two robots' middles, ruining the delicate circuitry inside.

"Heads up!" Three more Centurions turned toward the rabbit who spoke, only to be decapitated with one swift swipe of his blade. The mechanical heads clattered to the ground, signaling the defeat of the last remaining droids.

Ace stopped for a minute to catch his breath. It had been a while since he had such an intense workout. The simulation robots back at the base weren't nearly as deadly or numerous. Behind him, Duck careless kicked a deactivated droid, smirking at the sight of their defeated enemy.

"Heh, I don't know what we were so worried about. These guys weren't that tough after all." Even Ace managed a weak smile at the remark, though it was far from the truth. At least it was over.

The Loonatics' victory was short-lived as a Martian Commander leading a troop of Martian soldiers skidded into view at the exit and quickly spotted their quarry.

"There they are!" Ace's face faltered as the soldiers furiously sprinted toward them, looking to finish off where the Centurions left off.

"Dis day couldn't _get_ any woise!"

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''  
"Ugh. . .jeeze. . .I'll never understand why this place has so many stairs." The Martian King struggled to catch his breath as he collapsed onto his throne. His ankle was killing him, and he briefly took a moment to rub the sore spot in the quiet solitude of the throne room. A resounding bang nearly caused him to jump out of his skin.

"YOUR MAJESTY!" Commander A-1 burst through the tall double doors unannounced and with no apology, heedless of his ruler clutching at his chest in a weak attempt to slow the accelerated pounding there.

"Are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack!"

"Sir, an unidentified spacecraft had been spotted entering Martian territory at apromroximately1300 hours. Border patrol had been bypassed and at least three trespassers have already succeeded on infiltrating the palace."

"Typical. Why do these kind of things only happen on _my_ watch?" The King grumbled in annoyed disgust.

"Not to worry," The Commander reassured his sovereign, "we've already called in the Centurions and several of our top officers to deal with our 'guests'. They are engaging the enemy downstairs as we speak." However, the news of his soldiers' actions bothered the older Martian King far more than information of invaders.

"You know, back in my day, it was considered civil to inform the royalty _before_ making any major strategic decisions to turn the palace into a combat zone. Why am I finding out about these intruders only _after_ they have already managed to breach our defenses and get inside these walls!"

The Commander was momentarily taken aback by his monarch's disapproval.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I did not mean to assume-"

"Please, don't take me for an idiot, Commander; I get enough of that from my wife." The King pleaded rather wearily. The Commander had the good grace to appear abashed for his lack of etiquette. "At least tell me that the problem has been neutralized."

"Not. . .as of yet, sir."

"Well, apparently these interlopers are causing far more trouble than you estimated if the Centurions and your men have still not been able to contain them. I'm going to find the others to help salvage this. You go and alert the Queen." The smaller Martian slid down from his throne and dusted off his knee length skirt before grabbing his polished black cane. Leaning heavily on it, he hobbled his way towards the hall. He tried to ignore the heavy metal black boot of a cast he was forced to drag on his left foot, which was seriously hampering his speed as it weighed him down like a pound of lead. The Commander briskly strode to catch up with his monarch, concern written on his dark eyes.

"Sir, are you sure? I mean, in your condition-" The King brushed off the Commander's attempt to help him. Good intentioned as his officer may have been, he was not going to be treated like an invalid

"I'm perfectly able, Commander. I've survived being smashed up, crashed up, blown up, burnt up, shot, beaten, commanding battles in two ongoing wars and being stranded for three days on an island with nothing but my last remaining wits and the universe's most annoying idiot during my lifetime, and I've always bounced back better than before." The King stated with a proud smugness as he left the Commander behind.

He failed to mention that this latest setback has been one of the few severe injuries he had had in decades with one of the longest recoveries he ever had to suffer. His expression darkened and he muttered to himself, irritated as he remembered exactly how he had gotten so madly mangled. "It's domestication that's going to finally kill me."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''  
Adamantium clashed against lasersaber as Ace struggled against the Commander's glowing curved red blade. Fiery sparks flew as each combatant's weapon collided with the other's. Ace had the advantage of speed and footwork, as he leapt to and fro in various directions and angles to avoid his opponent's deadly finishing blows and block weaker thrusts.

However, the Martian Commander had strength, reach and, most importantly, experience on his side. His centuries of training had helped him built up his stamina and had taught him to be sparing in his motions. The rabbit was quick, no doubt, but all those fancy acrobatics of his were only useful in distracting and confusing lesser skilled opponents. And they would eventually wear him down after a while. The Commander would continue to hold his own until the bunny dropped his guard.

Five other soldiers attacked full force at Lexi. On her reflex, she flipped behind one to deliver a devastating kick to one, only to see him stumble but not fall. Their helmets and armor protected them against most physical attacks.

Eyes glowing pink, she concentrated on sending a blast from between her ears to her target, resulting in sending at least one guard crashing into two more of his colleagues. One Martian snuck behind her with laser pistol in hand, attempting to ambush her. However, even through all the noise of the surrounding battle, Lexi's supersensitive ears picked out the one soldier out from the crowd.

"Oh no you don't!" At the last second, Lexi whipped around and blasted her would-be assailant into the opposite wall.

Duck, on the other hand, was having a bit more trouble with the soldiers than he had with the Centurions. His tar eggs only managed to annoy his attackers rather than disable them, as they continued to shoot at him even as they were covered from brush to boot in black sludge.

Sticky as they were, the Martians were also far faster and more agile than the sluggish robots, managing to dodge Duck's exploding orbs at every turn. Their laser shots were becoming more frequent and chaotic as Duck's constant teleporting led the Martians to shoot at random spots, hoping to catch the mallard when he appeared. Even the act of quacking was proving to become more hazardous by the second.

Against the Commander, Ace was slowly starting to feel the consequences of his incessant bounding. He could feel the muscles in his legs begin to spasm in protest at the constant work, though he forced himself to continue.

Sensing weakness, the Commander hoped to gouge the rabbit into losing his step.

"What's the matter, rabbit?" The Martian cruelly taunted, "Losing steam, are we? That's the trouble with so much needless hopping," The Commander swiped at the air where Ace was, though his saber was once again blocked,"it eventually wears you down." Ace bounced out of the way of the Commander's constant barrage of blows as the Martian continued speaking.  
"The muscles start to strain and the body begins to tire. Pushing yourself only increases the speed of its eventual collapse." Once more, Commander M-2 attempted to deliver a finishing blow, only to be deflected by the determined Earthling before he leapt to safety. The Martian's patience was quickly waning.  
"You can't keep avoiding me forever! Sooner or later you will begin to weaken. . .you'll make a mistake!"

"I don't need ta avoid ya foreva. Just long enough 'til I take care of _you!_" Ace rushed forward, both hands at the hilt of his sword, as he prepared to deliver his own critical blow at his opponent.

The Commander hadn't expected the rabbit to shorten the distance between them, though he welcomed the change in the Earthling's strategy. It was just the opening he had been looking for.

Ducking low, he grabbed the charging bunny and flipped him hard to the ground. As he was being tossed, Ace felt his grip slip and his sword clattered to the steel floor, away from him. The Commander swooped upon it and held both blades a half an inch away from the rabbit's throat.

"Check and mate, Earth creature." Ace's eyes burned with a yellow intensity as he prepared his own trick.

"Not just yet, Doc." Before Ace could fire his lasers, the Commander was hit from the right side by the largest pink blast Ace had ever seen.

The Martian flew twenty feet, crashing violently into the metallic wall and leaving a huge dent where his body hit. The Commander slid bonelessly to the ground, unconscious, as Lexi smirked at her handiwork.

Ace quickly got to his feet and dusted himself off.

"I had him, ya know." Ace scowled at being denied his finish on his one-on-one. He dashed to where several other Martian soldiers were busy firing at Duck, hoping to draw their attention away from his other teammate.

"You're welcome." Lexi rolled her eyes as she went back to the rest of the fight.

Unknown to any of occupants of the room, another figure had joined in to help battle alongside the remaining Martians.

The King had finally arrived to the corridor where he heard the barbaric ruckus. Though the confrontation had long started without him, it didn't appear anywhere near to being finished for either side.

With a half-lidded weary face, he glanced about the hall, surveying the wreckage that was being wrought before his eyes as his soldiers faced armed combat against . . .well,. . . wasn't that just bloody perfect.

He never thought he'd see another Earthling that could cause such a distasteful amount of damage, especially with all the explosions. He sighed in tired exasperation and rubbed his temples as he reached into his pocket.

"I am seriously getting too old for this."

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''  
Behold the power of pseudoscience and all its glory! Seriously, it is this writer's best friend. I have no idea what Ace's sword is made of, but based on the fact that it has been used to destroy robots and various other metal opponents on the show, I'm assuming it's tougher than mere steel. And yeah, I'm a comic book fan. Can you tell?

P.S. I have no idea if Zadavia actually has a spare shuttle, but for this fic she does. Since. . .ya know. . .her real ship was blown up and all.


	7. Chapter 7

New key:

"**Bold" translated from Martian language. **This will be fairly rare in this fic, but it's still good to know.

_Italic (no asterisks) flashback or a recording. _

**Chapter 6**

The temporary loss of their Commander, didn't seem to faze the other soldiers for long. Rather it appeared to rally them into a second round of energy in combating the foreign invaders. As the Loonatics continued to fend off the armed guards, Ace noticed another Martian decked out in a knee-length green skirt enter the mix.

Ace had to wonder how he hadn't noticed him until now. The new arrival was a tiny thing, though he at first appeared to blend well with the others in his bright red shirt and bronze chest armor. Now he couldn't help but stuck out like a sore thumb since he was the only one standing alone near a wall, not making a move. The rabbit was about to move on to a more threatening target, since the Martian appeared to be staying out of the battle for the most part, until Ace noticed him reach for something at the side of his belt.

Without a second thought, Ace sprinted toward the short fellow and tackled him from behind before he could take out whatever weapon he was going for. He wrenched his prisoner's arms behind his back and held him to ground as he struggled helplessly underneath them.

Ace nearly let them go again to block his own ears as a piercing scream resonated though the air.

"ENOUGH!" The exclamation was enough to halt everyone in the room as everyone's attention quickly spun to its source.

A tall, female Martian in a white Roman style tunic, stood at the doorway alongside a human woman in a purple business suit, Ace recognized as Ambassador Maxima Johnson. Every other Martian, save the one Ace had pinned, instantly stopped in mid-fight and dropped to one knee in veneration. Obviously, by the way she carried herself and the authority every officer recognized in her, she could only be the Queen of Mars.

Thought the lines surrounding her hard blue eyes and the streaks of grey hair intermingling with white betrayed her progressing years, she was still a sight to behold. Lithe and voluptuous with an obvious air of power. Ace could only imagine what she was like in her prime.

The dark woman stared angrily at the slack jawed rabbit as she recognized the Martian underneath him.

"Is there a reason why you're manhandling my husband!"

"H-husband?" Ace glanced down at the diminutive little Martian, who was glaring over his shoulder right back at him, infuriated that the rabbit actually had the audacity to hold him in such a humiliating position.

"Do you mind?" Ace eased up on his captive and watched as the alien struggled off the floor, grasping at his cane to help prop himself somewhat awkwardly to his feet.  
"Ahh, my back!" The short Martian groaned in pain as he cracked his aching spine. He, like his wife, was also obviously older than most of the people in the room. Though the slight greying around his black eyes and temples did nothing to diminish the fierce rage he was currently emitting in waves toward the tall yellow-clad rabbit.

"Now what is going on here?" The Queen demanded of her companion.

"The Commander alerted me that a couple of intruders had gotten past the border patrol and had infiltrated the palace. They had just finished calling reinforcements. . .when this mutant attacked us!"

"Who are ya callin' 'mutant' buddy!" Despite learning the man's identity, Ace couldn't help bite back the insulted response.

"We aren't intruders! We were invited here!" Lexi insisted before Ace provoked another scuffle.

"You creatures? Invited here?" The Martian King glanced back at his wife rather perplexed that he would be left uninformed of such a decision.

"Yes, dear, don't you remember," The Queen answered back slowly, as though speaking to a backward toddler,

"Look, I'm 25 pound senior citizen who just got tackled full force by a 5 foot, 100 pound rabbit. Forgive me if things don't come to me as quickly as I would like."

"Queen Tyr'ahnee, King Marvin, I would like to present to you, the Loonatics." Ambassador sheepishly introduced the Martian rulers to the Earthlings she had been praising merely moments before in the other room. "They are here to help in the negotiation process."

"Did you say. . . 'the Lunatics'?" The King's sour disposition seemed to instantaneously melt away, as he struggled in vain to keep himself from laughing outright.

"And what, may I ask, is so funny?" Lexi crossed her arms, a tad insulted that the King was seeing them as some sort of joke.

"You-you actually. . ." Marvin managed in-between giggles, "call yourselves 'the Lunatics?'"

"Okay, we get the joke, dear." Tyr'ahnee rolled her eyes, not seeing that much humor in the pun.

"Wait wait wait . ." The King refused to let the gag die just yet, ignoring his wife's exasperated stares.

"Eh. . .it's worse sounding than what it really is." Duck tried to salvage the team's credibility. "You see the thing is. . .wait. . .why _is_ that our name?" Duck looked toward Ace, a bit perplexed himself. Marvin looked like he was eager to comment, but Tyr'ahnee quickly shut him up, fixating him with a deathly glower.

"Not. One. Word."

"Awwww. . .but it's just so easy!" The King pouted, but finally let the matter rest.

"You see, Loonatics," Maxima began to explain to the superpowered guests, "the Queen and King called me several months ago and requested to see you specifically. They said they thought it would be a good opportunity to show the people of Mars that we Earthlings are capable of contributing much to any future alliance. The-"

"Yes, yes, it's coming back to me now." Marvin nodded at the Ambassador's words as everything came flooding back to his brain. He stared at the creatures who had forced them to wait so long on their behalf and were the currant cause of his throbbing headache.  
"You're late, you know." Ace couldn't contain his outrage any a moment longer.

"Late! We nearly got ourselves killed tryin' ta get here! We had ta duck past your Commanda, not ta mention a fleet of robots and guods who all insisted dat we were invadas witout a poiment! And your mad at us 'cause wea late!"

"They said you were invaders?" At this Tyr'ahnee turned her scrutiny at Commander A-1, who was standing behind her.

"My Liege, we had no other choice. Martian law dictates that any person not a citizen caught trying to enter Martian territory with no approval, must be captured or destroyed on sight."

"I'm quite aware of what the law is, having written it myself, however, what you say is impossible. Significant matters like these are handwritten and delivered in person to prevent such errors, and I personally drew out the order to give the Loonatics access to an audience with us this morning. The only thing it needed was the additional confirmation by. . .my husband." She raised a questioning eye at her consort, silently ordering him to explain himself, though he seemed little affected this time, confident in his inculpability in the matter.

"Yes, that's right. After I had signed my confirmation it only needed to be sent out. But then I remembered I had some errands to take care of at the time before the Ambassador arrived, so I handed the notice for delivery over to-" The King's expression suddenly turned murderous as he stopped in mid-sentence, just as he remembered who the last person who had the orders were. He glanced back at his guests and made a retreat.  
"Excuse me for a second, would you?" He furiously tapped some buttons within his metal armbands and evaporated out of the room. The Queen shook her head in sincere apology toward the Loonatics.

"I am terribly sorry for this whole mess. It was not our intention and I hope this inconvenience will not dissuade you."

"Afta all we did ta get here, dere's noting you can do ta get rid of us."

"Good. . .I think." Tyr'ahnee's attentions quickly left her guests as she rushed to some of the Martian soldiers who had yet to stand, and commanded A-1 to follow her.

"Take these soldiers to the infirmary. They need medical attention right away. The rest of you return to your posts afterward." Commander A-1 and his soldiers hustled toward their stricken comrades and proceeded to lift their unconscious forms off the ground long enough to evaporate them to the medical center. One soldier still lay at the Queen's side as she knelt nearby. Slowly, the Martian got up with Tyr'ahnee's aid. Lexi recognized from the location they were at, the soldier had been the one who had tried to ambush her before.  
"**Are you all right?" **The Queen asked in what sounded like genuine concern to those unfamiliar with the native language.

"**I will be once I find that harpy who shot me and rip her ears off!" **A distinctively feminine voice answered back sharply as she clutched at her bruised ribs.

"**I'm afraid you'll have to wait on that. The ones you fought are here on important business."**

"**You cannot be serious! Those barbarians should be slaughtered! The damage to the palace alone-"**

"**I'll worry about that, never you mind. Meanwhile, get yourself to the infirmary and get looked over. If the staff sees you are fit enough, I want you to join your father and I later on. You are princess and heir. It is only proper that you should be present for such important negotiations."**

"**Yes, mother. Does this mean I have to play hostess to the animals back there?"**

"**Only for a while."** The younger woman sighed in irritation as she removed her helmet, letting her sweat soaked white hair fall limply to her shoulders. She nodded in acceptance of her orders and with one last withering glower at the pink bunny who had whipped her, she teleported out of the room.

"Uh, a friend of yours?" Lexi asked, still curious about the girl who just gave her the evil eye.

"You'll see her soon enough later tonight." The Queen quickly changed subjects. "Right now, why don't you get settled. You must be exhausted after your ordeal. I'll have a Centurion show you to your quarters."

"Sorry, to interrupt, but weren't there six of you coming?" Maxima reminded the Acme heroes of their missing teammates.

"Dat's right! Tech and de oddas are still out dere!"

"If they're roaming free around Mars with a bounty on their heads, they won't stay hidden for long." The Queen pulled out a cell phone and quickly dialed a number.

"Captain, this is the Queen of Mars. I understand that there are at least three interlopers-" She stopped suddenly, listening to the caller on the line deliver some unexpected news.  
"Really? Interesting. . .Hmm, will wonders never cease?" Tyr'ahnee's calm deposition faded as she spoke with the Captain, quickly betraying vexation. She covered the mouthpiece of the phone, to address her other audience.  
"Well, this day just keeps getting better." The Queen announced with dripping sarcasm. "Your friends were found lurking inside a game reserve by some of our troops about two thousand miles from here. Apparently, their cover was blown when Martians stationed noticed another unauthorized aircraft enter Martian territory and land in the area." The Queen turned back to her caller on the other end, who was still addressing her as to what their precise orders should be.  
"No, that won't be necessary, Captain. . .Yes, all of them." She snapped close her phone and turned to relay the message.  
"They are being transported to the rendevous point at this time. From there they will be escorted to the palace." The explanation appeared to bring up more questions than answers, since at least to Lexi, it appeared that they were going to incredibly unnecessary lengths for a simple pickup. Especially after seeing that the Martians were still using evaporation as a standard mode of transport.

"Why can't you just beam them here?" Tyr'ahnee couldn't help but chuckle at the naivety of the query.

"Please! Do you know what kind of security risks we would be facing if people could just pop into the palace at their leisure? We've had enough of that in past years to know it brings more trouble than it's worth, so protocols were changed. Anyone, who is not a member of the royal family, entering the palace must stop at the check-in point first and from there, they are taken here."

"The coordinates you gave us weren't for the palace? Well, that explains why we couldn't find the place earlier."

"Of course they weren't. But, now I must ask you something. . .since you had no idea where it was, how did you find the palace in the first place?" As if in answer to her question, Marvin evaporated back into the room, dragging by the ear a familiar looking boy in a short red tunic.

"Hey, it's that kid! He's the one who told us how to get here." Lexi, Ace, and Duck stared in amazement at the Martian lad they had met in the desert.

"Is this true, Tyrannus?" The boy stared at the floor, refusing to meet the man's eyes and rubbing his arm nervously as Marvin finally released his grip.

"Well,. . .yeah."

"Son, that was a very reckless thing to do!" Tyr'ahnee chastised her son. "You had no idea who these people were. Suppose they were terrorists looking to infiltrate the palace. You would have lead them right to us!"

"Well, they didn't seem like terrorists," the boy weakly attempted to defend his actions, "and they seemed real nice and. . .well. . .they did say that they were on an important mission so I figured they were those special guests you mentioned were visiting. . .so. ..I-"

"Which, reminds me. . .what happened to the notice I gave you this morning?" Marvin addressed his son about his failed mission.

"_That_, I remember!"

"Oh really?" His father countered with undisguised skepticism.

"Yes, I remember! You gave the notice to me, and I went straight away to head to the Commander to give it to him before he took off on patrol, and on the way, one of the Captains at the check-in asked if I could help him on an assignment where he was stationed when I had the time, and I really wanted to help so I put the notice in my pocket and. . .must have forgotten to give the notice to the Commander. . ." Tyrannus trailed off, fully knowing that there was no excuse for his lack of care in any regards.

Realizing, it was futile to argue at this point, the King pointed toward the door.

"Go to your quarters and wait for me there. We'll discuss your punishment later." Tyrannus nodded numbly in abashed obedience and scuffled out.  
"Could you excuse us for just a moment? I wish to have a private word with the Queen."

"Ambassador, how about you take the Loonatics to the main hall to await the others. I'm sure their friends would appreciate seeing some familiar faces upon arrival."

When they were gone, Marvin made sure to speak in Martian. He didn't know too much about the Earthlings, but he didn't trust them enough to not eavesdrop on their conversation.

"**Where's the other one?"**

"**The infirmary. She was in the scuffle with the others."**

"**Injured badly?"**

"**Only her pride. Nothing too serious fortunately. But I'm having her checked on just to make sure."**

"**And Commander M-2?"**

"**We'll know soon enough. He got beaten far worse than the others."**

"**Well, if he's feeling up to it, I have a new assignment for him to help me with." **He took a deep breath to calm his quickly escalating temper as he pressed on to different, more important matter.

"**So, exactly how many more are these beings are there?"**

"**Six in all."**

"**I was hoping for a smaller number, but I guess they decided to bring in the whole team. So what do you think of them?"**

"**It's hard to tell. They haven't been here that long to know for sure. The yellow rabbit has a bit of a temper as you saw. He'll probably be the most difficult to persuade."**

"**Perhaps we don't need them all. If there is one thing Earthlings love to pride themselves on, it's democracy. If we can convince the majority, I doubt they'll appreciate being overruled because one or two others don't agree." **The Queen nodded in agreement as she watched her spouse hobble toward the door. She still had one more matter left to settle.  
"**I hope you don't plan on mollycoddling him this time."**

"**The boy's still new at this." **Marvin attempted a defense of their son.

"**As you so often keep reminding me."** Tyr'ahnee sighed in frustration as her husband headed toward another round of trying to discipline their irresponsible offspring.

* * *

Queen Tyr'ahnee strolled into the main hall where the representatives from Earth were waiting for her, arriving just in time to see Tech, Slam and Rev march through the giant double doors into the hall, escorted alongside by five armed Martian guards, two Centurions, and another guest.

Zadavia removed her hood and nodded a greeting toward the taller woman.

"Queen Tyr'ahnee, I and the Loonatics bid you greetings." The Frelangian woman offered a cool salutation.

"Zadavia, a pleasure as always." The Martian Queen's welcome was perceptibly forced. Apparently, the two had a history together, though from the sound of the two, none of it was on friendly terms.

"Zadavia, you know her?" Lexi questioned the team's founder.

"We've met," was her only answer.

"Briefly." Tyr'ahnee was quick to emphasize. "What are you doing here, Zadavia? Aren't you a long way off from your galaxy?"

"I received a distress signal from the Loonatics that they were stranded here without a way back. I couldn't very well leave them here to fend for themselves if I could help them out."

"So. . .you look after these young heroes?" The mocking tone in the Martian's voice was not lost on Zadavia, who was quick to clarify her position.

"I initially helped assembled them as a team, and I finance them as well as provide information they may need on their missions."

"I must admit I am curious as to what train of events lead you abandon your position as Queen of your kingdom for a job as a secretary and banker for a team of superheroes." If Tyr'ahnee had been hoping to goad a reaction from the Frelangian, she failed as the other woman refused to rise to her bait.

"Perhaps another time." The Queen shrugged in mild disappointment.

"As you wish. Well, enough small talk, I shall have the guards help you to your rooms. Zadavia, will you be planning on staying for the proceedings or do you feel your friends are sufficiently out of harm's way that they can look after themselves without your mothering?"

"Would you mind if I _did _decide to stay for a short time?" Zadavia challenged back, grinning as she noticed the barely concealed grimace on the Queen.

"Not at all," came the forced reply. As unpleasant as the prospect was, it was more tolerable than having to explain her reasons not to in front of the other witnesses of the room. She would put up with the Frelangian until she left later on.

"Since both of your ships were commandeered by our guards and are being brought back here, I'll have the Centurions see if they can salvage any of your belongings from them. We'll be serving lunch in an hour. You may all feel free to explore the vicinity until then. We can talk business later on."

* * *

"So what happened to you guys?" Tech asked curiously once the team were safely within the privacy of their rooms.

"Ya wouldn't believe us if we told ya." Ace shook his head, still having trouble wrapping his thoughts around everything that has happened to them within the last few hours.

"Come-on,-it-can't-be-as-bad-as-what-happened-to-us!" Rev popped up behind Ace, urging him to spill the details. Duck couldn't help but scoff at the roadrunner's ignorance.

"You willing to bet money on that wager?"

"At-least-tell-us-what-we-missed."

"Well, besides us gettin' lost in da desert and den ambushed twice about eleven steps inta dis place, not much." That was all Ace was going to say on the subject. If the others wanted a full report, they were going to have to interrogate Lexi or Duck. Luckily for Ace, Duck decided to change the subject as well.

"Meanwhile, what do you think is up with the boss lady? Did you see how she and Queenie kept giving each other the evil eye?" Tech nodded in the mallard's assessment.

"Yeah, I saw it, too. Wonder what happened between them."

"Well, dere's only one way ta find out. Lets find her and ask her." Duck. surprisingly, fully supported Ace's proposal as he eagerly punched his fist into his palm.

"Yeah, even if we have to drag it out of her!"

"That won't be necessary." The six animals whirled around to the doorway to find their chief who had managed to listen in on the end of their conversation without anyone else noticing.

"Zadavia!" Tech responded immediately, being the first to recover from his shock and embarrassment. "Sorry, we don't mean to pry or anything but-"

"You are curious. I figured you would be. You must understand, the relationship I have with the royal family here is. . .complicated. It was one of the many reasons I hesitated to send you up here in the first place.  
"You see, years before I came to Acmetropolis, on Freleng, my brother and I lived with the King of Freleng, our father, since our mother died when we were both young. My father had invited the Martian royal family to our planet. In a way, they are partially responsible for everything that has happened on Earth recently. . ."

* * *

_She smoothed out her robes for what must have been the fiftieth time that past hour. Beside her, her older twin brother stood tall and proud in his finest, right behind their kind smiling father. Father had told them that they would be hosting representatives from a planet far from their own galaxy. A planet, he said, which was willing to work with the Frelangian people to improve their interdimensional space travel. _

_For eons, Freleng had been one of the leaders in their galaxy in terms of knowledge and technology. And though they could travel to many worlds in moments, they had never strayed outside their own galaxy, for the journey was too long and far even for their most advanced ships. Scientists had experimented with the notion of creating wormholes for such a purpose, but it was always said that any achievements made would be far off in the future. That was until some strangers claiming to be from another far off galaxy had wandered into their planetary system. An offer was made to lend some of their own technological resources to Freleng, and with it came a hope that such advanced travel might be made within their own lifetime._

_It was thrilling to say the least for the sixteen year old princess. Since she and her brother were coming of age, their father saw it fit to allow them to sit in for the first of many political and diplomatic meetings. It was a lesson she had been looking forward to for some time. As she stood on the platform to await the mysterious guests, her mind wondered what they would be like. She did not have time to ponder many possibilities, as the foreign visitors arrived. _

_The ship was a dark contrast to the crystalline palace and shimmering chrome cities that made up Freleng. Nearly foreboding in its appearance, the jagged design seemed to radiate a sinister presence that Zadavia had never felt before in her life. Just what kind of beings would contrive such a ship like that on purpose!_

_The latch door opened and out stepped the occupants, two of the strangest creatures she had ever seen. She had never traveled to other worlds nor had she herself ever been privileged to see other people from planets not her own. Never could her limited experience have allowed her to predict that other planets might have nurtured people as dissimilar to her own kind. _

_Unlike the Frelangians ,who although various shades of color, always seemed to radiate a kind of brightness, the strangers were completely jet and had no facial features to speak of, save for large eyes which seemed to stand out in the midst of nothing. And even those eyes displayed no traces of warmth, only a hard sternness that Zadavia had only seen when her father was at his most serious. _

_The taller female, at least Zadavia assumed she was female, strode confidently up to the Frelangian King and stuck out her hand, which the king took and began to shake up and down. Zadavia looked on in puzzlement at the bizarre act._

"_What are they doing? Why don't they bow to each other in meeting?" Optimatus chuckled at his younger sister's naivety and kindly explained._

"_It's a custom from their world. Father mentioned it to me. It is a sign of welcome and respect amongst equals. Where they are from, bowing is a sign of servitude and submission to a superior." Zadavia still didn't quite understand, but said no more on the subject. _

_Not wanted to appear rude, she approached the other alien, knelt down, and stuck out her hand in greeting. She was much smaller than her companion. Still, she appeared at least a bit less threatening, her eyes just a little more soft and less cool than her comrade._

"_Hello, I'm Zadavia. Welcome to Freleng. I hope you enjoy your visit." The other alien nodded in greeting and politely shook hands._  
"_So. . .are you two related or something?" Zadavia ventured to ask the visitor, attempting to break the ice between them. The shorter being shrugged, not particularly eager to engage in small talk at the time._

"_You could say that." The taller representative answered simply for them both, as her smaller friend fingered the plain gold band on her finger._

"_Oh. . .sisters?" The shorter one glared up at her with a sudden rage as her companion couldn't help but allow a cruel snicker escape her throat._

"_That's not funny!" A distinctively male voice issued from the being as he tried to salvage what was left of his dignity, shooting a withering glance at his partner._

"_Yes, it is. It _really_ is." The other one, definitely a woman, continued to subtly mock the other while Zadavia felt her cheeks flush hot with humiliation. Not even three minutes in and she had already managed to insult one of the ambassadors and possibly ruin any chance of negotiation._

_The King of Freleng attempted to smooth any ruffled feathers by diverting everyone's attentions toward business._

"_I do apologize for the misunderstanding. Please, let us proceed to the order at hand." _

"_Yeah, might as well get this over with." The other man followed the Frelangian ruler, throwing one last look of disdain toward his daughter._

* * *

_The Martians, as Zadavia later discovered, were more forgiving of slights as soon as the topic of monetary compensation came up. The Martians were set on acquiring a large payment sum for any services and equipment used by Freleng, making the case that their own economy depended on what services they could sell to other planets, and that the benefits Freleng would make with interdimensional travel would certainly outweigh any fee the Martian Empire could demand. In their minds it was an investment._

_At the same time, father seemed unwilling to meet such a high price that was demanded. Knowledge was not something that should not be charged for and belonged to all people. He subtly hinted that Mars could not be the only planet that had such technology and that Freleng, if necessary, would seek assistance from another party. _

"_Well then, I suppose if that is how you feel, we have little more to discuss here." The Martian Queen shook her head and stood up as though preparing to depart._  
"_The Martian Empire will not bow on its position, so you are free to contact other parties for the knowledge you seek. However, just to let you know, you can never be sure of the quality of the information you obtain. If you wish to wait until another advanced civilization comes your way to make a similar offer, that is your business. However, I assure you, if you stick with our offer, you will not be disappointed in your results."_

"_But, surely your Empire can afford to extend such knowledge as an offer of alliance rather than for pure capital gain." The Frelengian King stood up as well as he tried to persuade negotiations to continue. _

"_We would be more than willing to offer a trade if you desire."_

"_I personally have yet to see anything on this planet that we'd be that interested in, at least nothing that we couldn't easily obtain closer to home. If you wish to haggle on the cost, be my guest, but we are not sending over a thing to this planet unless a price is set."_

_As Zadavia listened to the two adults discuss the exchange program, she quickly learned how much diplomacy depended on baiting and measuring the other party. Seeing how far they could be pressed, while making sure one did not overstep boundaries that would destroy any further discussions. Trying to get what you wanted without giving up too much on your own end and making sure that one was always polite and careful enough not to offend the other. It was all very complicated work, and her father and the Martian Queen appeared to be experts at the game as they danced back and forth in their verbal sparring match. Father rose eagerly to meet the challenge set forth._

"_Very well, have it your way. Optimatus? Zadavia? Please wait outside while we finish our negotiations." Zadavia's normally complacent brother rose out his chair in disbelief and indignation at being sent away during such crucial negotiations._

"_But Father-"_

"_Don't argue, Optimatus." Father's eyes narrowed and stared down his son, silently reasserting his authority over the matter._

"_You had best listen to your father." The Martian Commander chimed in, surprisingly sounding as though he was understanding to the teenager's distress and was trying to appease the boy's temper._  
"_This really is a matter best settle between official rulers."_

"_Agreed. Commander, why don't you wait outside with them." The Martian Queen ordered rather than suggested as the Commander's deposition quickly slipped to being as crestfallen and outraged as the younger boy he had just moments been trying to assure._

"Me!_ What did _I_ do!" The man's voice squeaked in bitter confusion._

"_Any contract made is really a matter between official ruling parties." The other woman stated simply, as though that was reason enough._

"_So what am I?"_

"_Last time I checked, you weren't king yet. I'll summon you if I need you, but for now your presence is unnecessary." The Commander joined Optimatus's grumbling as they both stalked out of the boardroom, Zadavia following not far behind as the heavy metallic doors slammed shut behind them._

_In the hall, both men were leaning against opposite walls, still pouting at having to make an early exit._

"_I never realized I was going to be reduced to babysitting on this trip." The Commander muttered, not caring if the Frelangian heirs heard him or not. After another minute or so of grumbling to himself, he addressed the two siblings._  
"_I don't suppose you two have any ideas while we wait."_

"_Father told us to wait out here. I believe that's our only option until they emerge." Zadavia could practically feel her brother rolling his eyes at her own response._

"_As exhilarating as that sounds, I think I'll pass." _

"_Same here." The two obviously weren't used to sitting around doing nothing and were anxious to do something to occupy themselves. The Martian tapped his chin in thought for a few minutes before he finally spoke up._  
"_Hold on, I think I may have something on board my ship." The alien scurried away, his short legs a blur as he headed toward the docking bay, returning several minutes later._  
"_You two like games?" The Commander questioned the youngsters as he carried a rectangular box under his arm._

"_What, like Bronig or Teiduos?" Zadavia asked, though her answer only seemed to elicit a look of revulsion as the Martian stared at her as though she had just sprouted a second and probably diseased looking head._

"_Um, well I'm not exactly sure what you just said, but no. . .I was thinking along the lines of chess."_

"_Never heard of it." Optimatus responded, and if it were possible, managed to get the Commander to have deeper look of horror with a hint of condescending pity._

"_Allow me to inject some culture into your deprived lives." Zadavia huffed in annoyance at the older man's patronizing tone, yet he ignored her as he took out a checkered piece of cardboard and a number of black and white oddly shaped figurines to set up._  
"_It's a simple board game based on strategy. Each player is general of a battalion of pieces which have their own unique uses and skills. Each player takes turns moving pieces, sacrificing some of their own and destroying opposing pieces over the board. The object to put your players into position to block the opponent's king in such a way that he cannot escape, thus capturing him and ending the game."_

"_That sounds completely barbaric!" The very notion that one would take such a horrific concept and turn it into a game of recreation and entertainment, was horrendous beyond her imagination. On the other end, Optimatus's eyes lit up as though it were his birthday and eagerly sat down opposite to learn to exotic sport._

"_That sounds incredible! Teach me to play!" While the Commander instructed her brother on the rules of the mock slaughter, Zadavia's curiosity had finally decided to emerge from its slumber._

_She continued to glance wistfully at the barred double doors where she knew behind them lay far more exciting and certainly less violent activities.  
Putting aside her promise to be obedient for the time, she crept to the doors and hesitantly cracked them open, just enough so that she could hear what was happening without the occupants noticing her presence. As it turned out, the two were far too absorbed in their dispute to notice one teenager's spying._

"_What you are proposing is outrageous! Freleng has no need for such things!" Zadavia winced at the furious tone emitting from her beloved caretaker_

"_You has no need for them,_ yet_. Believe it or not, not every civilization you happen upon is as accommodating as your own. And since you soon plan to explore other worlds in other galaxies, you'd do best to be prepared." The Queen answered back, eerily calm in the face of the screaming monarch._

"_Freleng did not become the high point of civility it is today by treating everyone in the universe as a potential enemy!"_

"_So I've noticed. But that doesn't change the fact. Mars was once an imperialist nation and once upon a time, we wouldn't have hesitated to take over your pacifist planet. I doubt you would have stood much of a change if that had been our intentions this time around."_

"_So what is stopping you!"_

"_Certain circumstances have come up recently. Besides, as I've stated earlier, your planet offers us nothing truly useful other than financing, which can only occur if you remain independent."_

"_I will not stand for you attempting to extract additional funds through your intimidation tactics! Freleng is a peaceful planet with no need or want of implements of war. If you still wish to send scientists for our initial project, I am still willing to negotiate, but I will hear no more about your other 'offers'!" Zadavia could see the Martian woman's eyes flash dangerously as she leaned closer toward the King, a note of threat imminent in her voice._

"_Perhaps I was a bit premature in my statement that your planet is not worth conquering. If nothing else, your capture would serve as an example to other nations in this galaxy not to turn down our offers. They'll be throwing money at our feet just to avoid your fate." The young Frelengian nearly fled from the door as she watched her father's face flush red, then purple as his rage threatened to explode._

"_Are you threatening us! I'd watch my tongue if I were you, or so help me I'll-" _

"_Or you'll what?" The dark woman may not have been as loud, but she easily matched the man's temper and intensity, and she did not back down for a moment._  
"_If you think those specially trained 'security guards' of yours are enough, you are sadly mistaken. You may have the best warrior in the universe, but your guardians are few in number and are, after all. . .mortal. I doubt even they could stand up to a full scale invasion. As for the rest of your people, they believe in the quaint ideology of peace at all costs. I think they'd rather us enslave you entirely than risk going into battle. The question is, which would you rather deal with?" For another second, the princess thought her father would burst again into another shouting match, but she was mistaken as he seemed to chew the implication of the words over in his head. When he finally spoke, his sentence was clipped as he tried to reign in his temper._

"_Excuse me. . . while I consider your. . .proposition."_

"_Of course." The Martian Queen answered back politely and smugly, probably knowing that she had won the battle of wills. _

_Zadavia couldn't take it anymore. That harpy had threatened their world and her father. . .and he just allowed her to back him into a corner. She fought back tears as she raced through the hall to the far end where she knew her brother was. Surely he would know what to do. She was a few feet away from them, when she could again make out her brother and the Commander's conversation over their game. Before she even realized what she was doing, she found herself stopping to listen in on the two._

"_No, no, no! You're not thinking ahead! You're too busy trying to attack my knight to protect your rook, you completely forgot about your queen. She's completely unguarded!" The Martian sighed in weary frustration._

"_I thought the point of this game was to capture the other pieces." Optimatus sounded as though he was also losing his patience._

"_It is. But as in life, some players are more important than others. Your rook, while a loss, is not worth sacrificing your queen over. And it is better to sacrifice pawns to move other pieces ahead than to let them just sit there and let higher pieces take the majority of blows." The younger man sighed as he shook his head, apparently still unable to grasp the entire point of the sport._

"_It is a very complicated game."_

"_It is all about strategy." The Martian explained slowly. "Imagine you are leader of an army planned in part of a hostile takeover of an enemy." The teenager's brows, narrowed in confusion._

"_We don't have armies like that on Freleng."_

"_It's a miracle you have lasted this long." The older man replied with dripping sarcasm. "Well, pretend you do. You wouldn't send off your most valuable generals and warriors in the first wave of attack when you have numerous expendable fighters at your disposal, would you? Likewise, the best place to get your valuable players in position is to take out the other side's strength. Chipping away at my pawns is a start, but you missed a chance to take my bishop twice. Sacrifice is necessary to obtain the larger prize."_

"_I'll try to remember that."_

"_You'll get the hang of it with some practice." The Martian assured Optimatus._

"_Is this how you battle for real where you are from?" He asked as he surveyed his pieces, planning his next move._  
"_Well the concept is mostly the same, though it's at a much larger scale." The Commander replied matter-a-factly as he moved one of the black pieces across the board.  
"Sometimes, intelligence doesn't always win out over sheer overwhelming numbers and brute force. You need to have a high amount of each to prepare you for all possibilities. And that's not taking into account environment, possibility of spies in the ranks or just plain dumb luck. Sometimes battles are lost, even though every possible advantage is on your side."_

"_Sounds like a lot of work. What's the point?"_

"_A lot if you're good at it." The Commander responded, surprisingly eager and proud at where the conversation was leading. "Land, resources, wealth, prestige. And. . .confidentially," he leaned over with a smug sense of satisfaction toward Optimatus, "the ladies really go for a man in uniform. You'd be surprised what people are willing to sacrifice for such things." Zadavia's brother smirked._

"_And your people desire such things?"_

"_All people desire them, whether they want to acknowledge it or not. It's instinct. Because such things represent power, and power is essential to survival. If you are weak, you are left to compete for survival with those stronger than you. Weak nations are taken over and destroyed by those more powerful. So it is always better to be the one capable of conquering others than being the potential victim of another. If nothing else, remember that!" The Martian was beginning to sound more and more like a tutor lecturing a wayward student. Optimatus shook his head._

"_You certainly have a pessimistic view of life." _

"_Mars was once like your planet, long ago" The Commander began again, though this time a touch sadder and more bitter than before. "We were young and naive enough to believe that everyone in the universe could all get along in harmony and all you needed was love and tolerance and all that other nonsense. Of course it's a bit hard to believe in peace and love once you've been invaded and your population almost destroyed. Encroachers came, stripped our planet bare and then went on their way, not giving our world a second glance." Zadavia felt her heart leapt up in her throat at the description of such destruction, and from the way Optimatus' eyes grew another size, she guessed he was just as appalled. The Commander continued, however, ignoring any horror in his companion._  
"_We were lucky. They didn't stay for more than a few thousand years. And they left enough of us alive so we were able to repopulate. But we learned that we had taken our existence for granted, and we worked to make ourselves stronger. When others tried to take over us again, we showed them our own power and drove them off. Eventually we were large enough to expand our power and build an empire out of virtually nothing. We earned quite a reputation in our galaxy. Even managed to establish a few colonies on some nearby planets when we were at our prime. Ah, those were the days." The Martian sighed wistfully as he remembered far off and better times. Across from him, Optimatus swallowed and queried again, not bothering to hide the tremor in his throat._

"_You think that could happen to us?"_

"_Most certainly! What makes your planet so special that it's exempt from being taken over by hostile invaders?" This was too much. She was starting to see exactly what the old Martian was doing, planting such ideas in her brother's head, and she had to put a stop to it. She stepped out of the shadows where she had been hiding and addressed her brother._

"_Optimatus? Could you join me for a moment?" The young man, looked up started for a brief moment, but stood up and pardoned himself from their guest. _

"_Uh. . .certainly, sister. Excuse me for a second." She walked him off down the hallway, away from the Martian, lest he overhear their discussion._

"_I don't think we should trust these outsiders."_

"_Why not? The Commander has been nothing if not polite and informative. I never realized how dangerously we have been living until now. Nothing to protect ourselves if we were ever to be attacked."_

"_Oh come now, Optimatus!" Zadavia hissed in disbelief as she tried to know some sense into her sibling. "Don't you think that in the thousands of years of our civilization that if we were to be invaded, it would have happened by now?" Optimatus brushed her objections aside, his voice becoming harder with each word._

"_We've been lucky, that's all. Incredibly lucky. We live in a galaxy that has very few people interested or possess even the capacity to invade us. But if we are going to announce our presence to other galaxies, we'll leave ourselves vulnerable to those who do."_

"_Freleng has always been able to start and foster allies through peace and diplomacy. Besides the guardians-"_

"_The guardians cannot protect us forever from everything! They are tremendous warriors, but they are not gods! They are still capable of falling! And who is to say we should continue old policies when new and different situations arrive? If our people had you as leader," he sneered," I imagine we'd still be using the wheel and not bother with anti-gravity transport since such relics have always worked so well in the past." The younger girl unconsciously took a step back at the harsh words, hurt welling up in her chest as she stared at her brother, not even recognizing this new wave of hostility in her sibling. _

"_Look at yourself! Less than an hour talking with that man and you're already belittling your own flesh and blood. You never used to before. And don't try to change the subject!"_

"_My eyes have been opened to new dangers and new possibilities. Our planet has been living in a cave, blinded to all that exists in the universe. But I am not so primitive as to lash out at something just because it is new and foreign to me!_

"_This is isn't about that!"_

"_So you say." His voice was soft, but she could still hear the edge of reproval in it. "You believe what you will. This discussion is over." With a quick turn of his heel, he stormed away, leaving his confused sister behind him. But Zadavia didn't have time for more tears. She had to stop her father from making a potentially devastating mistake because of these people's bullying and scare tactics. _

_The double doors slammed open as she burst through unannounced. Her father was sitting at the table, a pen and paper in hand, but both adults looked away to stare in shock at the girl who had dared to interrupt them so rudely. _

"_Father you can't do this!" She pleaded with her father hysterically._

"_Zadavia, this doesn't concern you. Wait outside until we are through." The stern stare the King was gave his daughter didn't deter her._

"_Father, you cannot let these people rule over us with threats!" At this, the man could hide his astonishment that her daughter knew the details._

"_How did you find ou-"_

"_Never mind. Please, father, think of what it would mean for our world if we succumb to such a proposition. We could end up obeying whatever they say because we are too afraid to resist. How far will we bend back for them!"_

"_This is a complicated matter, Zadavia. One that holds no easy answers."_

"_I understand that you have never been one to take orders from anyone for any reason. And now, just because this woman-"_

"_I never realized how undisciplined you are with your children." The Martian Queen stared coldly at the girl. She turned toward the King mockingly. "Are you going to allow a child dictate demands?" Zadavia knew, she had made a mistake. She had embarrassed her father in front of strangers and had unthinkingly challenged his power and authority when she had no right. If only she could make him see. . .If only she could make him change his mind. . .She felt her heart sink as she watched her father sign the contract before him. _

"_There, you have your price, which we will pay. And now you will undoubtedly start on your commission for us?" _

"_At once, Your Majesty. A pleasure doing business with you. You have made a wise decision." The Martian Queen stood up to leave, heading toward the doors. She stopped briefly as she glared at the youngster who had tried so hard to negate the dealings and had nearly ruined her plans_  
"_And you, little girl," the Martian spoke barely above a whisper, "have just made yourself a dangerous enemy this day." As the Queen left took down the hallway, Zadavia felt a shudder crawl through her skin._

* * *

The Loonatics listened to the tale with rapt attention. Just when they thought they knew their boss, she always managed to stun them with some other surprising tidbit from her past. And this one definitely grabbed them all.

"Then what happened?" Lexi stared up wide-eyed, unsure whether she actually wanted to hear the rest or not.

"The Martians were as good to their word. In addition to helping our scientists master wormhole interdimentional space travel, they sold millions of weapons, warships and robotic soldiers to Freleng, and even lessons in training solders, all at an exuberant cost. . .one that included much more than mere money.  
"I had underestimated the effects of such alien concepts. We Frelengian were always taught that power was granted with great responsibility to look after all people under our rule. Never were we told that there were people who held power for its own sake, who used their might to subject weaker people to their own will. Or that one's influence could extend beyond our own world. That kind of thinking began to manifest itself in many Frelengians, including Optimatus." Zadavia eyes turned toward the floor, as she remembered the past loss she suffered.  
"My once kind and caring brother had become obsessed with the ideas of power and conquest. He began thinking of ways, he too, could expand his own reign and domination over others. It was new and exhilarating for him, so he wished to experience it for his own. He had even proposed to the High Council that Freleng use their scientists to experiment with creating weapons of vast destruction. Eventually his fixation became so great, he succeeded in overthrowing Freleng all together. You know the rest of the story."

"So you mean to say that. . .because of all that. . .if it hadn't been for them, then-" Tech stuttered in shock that a simple business deal had managed to set off a series of events that would up endangering their own planet and mutating them all. Zadavia sensed a wave of curiosity, concern and even some resentment emanating from some the others, and quickly rose to squelch it.

"Yes, and I ask you all not to mention a word of it. I don't think even they know just how far their influence has stretched or that they are indirectly responsible for the Loonatics even existing. I'm not sure how they would respond, and I'd rather not risk finding out. It wouldn't do for us to insinuate blame. So for all our sakes, including the safety of Acmetropolis, please. . .keep this to yourselves." The Loonatics glanced around at each other worriedly, though they finally complied.

"Okay, Zadavia. . .we promise. We won't say a woid."

* * *

"What are you doing?" Marvin leaned on his cane as he made his way into the royal bedchamber, only to find Tyr'ahnee sitting tensely at the edge of the bed, watching the television.

"Going over some footage. It's a recording taken from our security cameras earlier when the Loonatics were confronted by our guards." Marvin weakly managed to limp toward the bed and stood next to his wife, his eyes narrowed in puzzlement as to what the fascination was.

"So?"

"So, watch. Three of those animals were able to overpower our finest trained warriors."

"They didn't overpower us," Marvin answered back haughtily, refusing to allow the notion that three freaks would have bested their troops, "they were just lucky enough to stay alive until you and the Ambassador showed up." Tyr'ahnee ignored him and continued on in her explanation as though he hadn't spoken a word.

"Don't you think it's odd that common creatures such as these have acquired such power in the first place? All of these beings managed to come into creation in the same generation."

"Quite a feat, I'd say." The King responded simply, unsure as to where his wife was heading.

"This was no coincidence. Something happened on that planet to produce them." Marvin mulled the Queen's point over a second. Yes, there was something more to these Earthlings than they first appeared. The odds that six animals would just spontaneously gain powers through natural means were staggering to say the least. Suddenly, a terrifying thought crept into the King's mind.

"Government experimentation?"

"Perhaps. I wouldn't put it past them. And it would certainly explain why the Earth hasn't been as feverous to build up their munitions as they had been in previous years. We'll have to learn more about these six." Marvin nodded in agreement as he studied the replay of the fight that had occurred under their roof.

Something nagged at him though, tickled the back of his mind like a bad itch, though he couldn't put his finger on it. The strange feeling of déjà vu filled his being and caused a dread sense of unease.

"There is something about these Earthlings that seem awfully familiar."

"Well, we have been watching clips of them on television for nearly a year." Tyr'ahnee disregarded the comment as just another symptom of her husband's growing senility. However, the other Martian refused to be dismissed so easily this time.

"No. . .it's not that. . .it's almost as if. . ." His brain struggled to grasp at the wisps of memory that flashed to the forefront of his mind. He felt as though he knew these beings all his life, though, however hard he attempted to grab onto the pictures and feelings in his head, they kept slipping back into the recesses of his brain. Disappearing like smoke, then reappearing but for an instant just under the surface. He knew that he knew them, like when one recognizes the meaning of a certain word but for the life of them can't remember how it sounded or how to say it. His brain was just refusing to allow him access to the information he sought, and after a minute or so, the old Martian decided to give in to his frustrations.  
"Never mind." Turning from the viewscreen, he headed to pick up the remote to switch off the videofeed, while his wife began to leave the room to meet up with their guests.

"_Check and mate, Earth creature."_ The rich baritone of his Commander at the scene was almost muted by the surrounding commotion of clashing forces and explosions.

"_Not just yet, Doc."_ Marvin whipped around to face the screen and instinctively pressed the rewind button. He leaned in and strained to try to hear what the rabbit had responded. He nearly missed it again, it was so faint. That accent. . .that word. . .once again something was trying to make its way back to his consciousness. An authoritative voice sliced through his ears, and cut him off from his thoughts.

"Are you coming?" His wife beckoned from the doorway, jarring his attempted retrieval. Just as soon as it had appeared, it was gone, back into the darkness. So close. Maybe he could. . .No. . .it wasn't coming back. Blast it!

"Sorry, I thought I heard something. I'll be right there." Perhaps, it would come to him later. He'd make sure to peruse the tape after supper.

* * *

Seriously, I was about ready to scrap most of this chapter and start over after the premiere of the second season revealed that Freleng had quite an extensive army. But then I realized that it took place when Zadavia and Optimatus were children, before they were grown as in the flashback. So all you continuity freaks just imagine that the scene takes place before they stocked up on arms. Which I think actually fits in with another plot point I had already planned in the story. I added the little bit about the guardians as an afterthought. Can't ignore them completely.

Though I'm really annoyed that the conversation between Zadavia and Deuce closely mirrored the exchange between her and Queen Tyr'ahnee. For the record, that was a total coincidence.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7**

Ace couldn't push down the waves of righteous anger he felt at the end of Zadavia's tale. So many people in danger everyday. The Earth being threatened with planet-wide extermination twice so far within a little over a year's time. All because some people decided they wished to squeeze extra money out of a normally peaceful civilization.

Without even realizing where he was going, Ace found himself aimlessly wandering the corridors until he wound up outside again.

It was a courtyard of sorts, though it looked as though no one had bothered caring for it in years. There were several Centurion droids hovering as guards who upon spotting the intruder swooped toward the Earthling.

"Halt!" one of the robots droned. "State your business!"

"Listen, R2, we've already done dis song an' dance before, an' while it's been loads of laughs, I'm really not in da mood right now. So eidda ya let me t'roo or do I haffta get de Queen ta take time outta her busy schedule ta vouch fer me?" At the mention of the Queen, the three Centurions glanced at each other with what appeared to resemble worry in their electronic eyes.

"Uh. . .that's okay. Sorry to keep you waiting. Please, go on ahead."

"Tanks! I really appreciate it!" Ace grinned as they parted the way to allow him through."Hey, by da way, is dere any place a rabbit could get a workout around here?"

"Well, . . .uh. . .there is the training grounds, however, I don't think. . ." One Centurion waved his robotic clawed arm back and forth frantically, signaling that it was probably not the best of ideas to annoy their Queen's special guest. The other droid took the message and quickly backtracked.  
"Actually, let me escort you there myself."

"You guys really are too kind."

* * *

"Dis is it?" Ace stepped out of the hovercar to stare at the location.

"This is it." The Centurion affirmed. Ace craned his neck to peer up at the immense red stone Colosseum that they were parked in front of. The structure towered over them for over 20 stories and stretched for at least a thousand feet on each side. Each floor displayed a continuous row of tall arched doorways, windows, and pillars. For the top windows, Ace's enhanced optics could make out marble statues of armored Martian men and women, frozen in various stages of battle. Judging from the sheer size, Ace guessed the amphitheater could probably easily fit the city of Acmetropolis' entire population. Plus guests.

"You guys don't do tings halfway, do ya?" Ace joked.

"No, sir." The Centurion answered dutifully, missing Ace's sarcasm. "This is where all Martian military personnel come for training and practice. When not in use by them, it is also the stage for histories, plays, gladiatorial games, and the occasional execution. However, there is nothing scheduled for today, so it should be empty at this time for at least an hour."

"What a cheery tought." The rabbit muttered ironically. Stepping inside the monument, Ace searched the cavernous entryways for a door to lead to the court, as his driver took off back to the palace.

After about twenty minutes of fruitless exploring, finding only more hallways and dead ends, Ace finally saw a stream of yellow light filtering though a doorway.

Blinking in the sun to adjust after exiting the darkened halls, Ace stepped slowly onto the dusty stage, and noticed he wasn't the only one planning on getting some exercise there that day after all. Someone was busy running laps around the far edge of the track set up. At the corner of his eye, Ace noticed someone a few feet above him perched at a seat in the first row.

"What are _you_ doing here?" A familiar voice snarled at him, as he noticed the furry interloper.

"Just lookin' fer a workout, Doc. Don't mind me." Ace smirked at the Commander whom Lexi had taken out an hour ago. His abdomen was bandaged, but other than that, he seemed no worse for wear, other than his dignity. The Martian glared for a few seconds.

"Stay out of our way." He muttered coldly, before turning his attentions away to more interesting tasks. Ace watched curiously as the Martian prince jogged up to them, gasping for breath as he halted, his form bent over as he rested his palms on his knees.

"Sir. . .I . . .finished. . .your. . .assign. . .ment. . .Anything. . . . . .else, Sir?" The young teen gulped and panted in obvious exhaustion.

"I want a hundred more." The Commander ordered, as he absently rubbed his injured side. The boy looked up incredulously as in pain, but he said nothing as he merely groaned and hoisted his feet up again to begin his task. The Martian observed the boy as he ran for a few minutes, until he noticed the rabbit still staring at them.

"Don't you have something better to do?" Ace frowned, but took the hint as he walked away to find an unoccupied section of the amphitheater.

Far away from the two Martians, Ace pulled out his sword. Though he was still a bit unused to the new power it possessed, he rather he didn't test them out in the facilities. Images of the Martians prosecuting him for accidently vaporizing something in the ancient establishment flashed in his head, and Ace decided that, for the time being, the risk wasn't worth it. He just needed to blow off some steam.

Taking a fighting stance, Ace took a deep breath and began some movements, kicking and punching invisible enemies that surrounded him.

"Yeesh, that Commander just can't take a joke!" Ace whipped around to see Duck, who had literally just materialized behind him, into one of the seats nearby.

"Duck? What are ya doin' here?" Ace asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Well, Lexi and I just went around the palace looking for you, and some neurotic robots _insisted _on bringing me here of all places. So what are you doing here?"

"Just tinking." Ace stated as he grabbed a large heavy stone and hurled into the air with all his might. It sailed across the salmon sky before exploding into dust on contact with Ace's laser vision. Duck visibly winced at the display as Ace snarled to himself, searching for another rock.

"Sheesh! What's got your ears in a knot?"

"What do ya tink?" Another rock, bigger than the previous catapulted into the air.

"I may be brilliant and good looking, but I'm no mind reader."

"Zadavia's story. I mean, just tink about it, Duck. We're here trying ta make friendly wit da same folks who led Optimatus ta try an' kill us all. Who helped release all dose supervillains on Acmetropolis! How can we pretend ta like dem when dey are da ones who ruined two planets? And fer what? Money!" Another rock vaporized in Ace's sight, as Duck struggled to think of a counter argument.

"Well, . . .on the plus side, they helped us get all our cool superpowers."

"I'd gladly give up all my powas if it meant Acmetropolis would be safe from danger."

"Hello? When has Acmetropolis, or Earth for that matter, _ever_ been safe from danger? Our whole planet is like a giant magnet for evil creeps and weirdos!"

"But not like dis! Not by a bunch of punks who were lucky enough ta get superpowas from a meteor."

"Yeah well. . ." Duck paused to search his brain for something to say, "what about that Adolph guy? He didn't need a meteor to help him try and sink Acmetropolis with his killer dolphin gang. And Tech's big headed girlfriend?"

"Dat's two. What about all dose uddas? Sypher? Black Velvet? Massive? Optimatus? Deuce? Dat Sam fellow?"

"So. . .you don't _like_ being a superhero?" Duck actually cocked his head curiously. He had always assumed Ace _loved_ being the leader of the team, not secretly resented it.

"Of course I like bein' a superhero. Ya get to help folks fer starters. I neva got ta do anyting like dat at my old job."

"Tell me about it! I'm _glad_ that meteor came! If it didn't, I'd still be deep sea treasure hunting." Ace made a noncommittal noise as he continued his target practice. He was beginning to wonder just how much of his words he had actually meant.

He and Duck wouldn't be here period if things had progressed differently. They'd both be back living normal civilian lives. Not necessarily a bad thing, though a lot less favorable looking now when looking back. But then so would the rest of them. Rev, Tech, Lexi, Slam. They'd all be living their own lives and their friendship would have probably never initiated had Zadavia not had a reason to band them together.

On the other hand, the sheer amount of destruction that Acmetropolis and the rest of the world have been subjected to would logically trump any pleasure he got out of the hero gig. Right? What kind of person would he have to be to prefer his life now over what could have been? And it wasn't like Zadavia was forced to pick Earth. Did that mean he blamed her, too. Maybe he did. . .a little bit.

"Tanks, Duck, you've given me a lot ta tink about." Duck puffed out his chest in pride that he was able to help the team's leader.

"Well, no thanks are necessary! But feel free to anyway. That's what I'm here to, to provide sage advise to those in need of it. Uh. . .what did I say?" In a burst of fire, a red streak suddenly rocketed between the duck and rabbit.

"There-you-are!-We-have-been-looking-all-over-for-you!-First-you-wander-off-then-Duck-disappears-and-we-had-Slam-check-the-  
eastside-and-Tech-check-the-westside-and-Lexi-had-the-northside-which-left-me-with-the-southside-only-I-was-able-to-finish-my-side-in-  
a-fraction-of-the- time-it-would-normally-take-so-I-decided-to-check-outside-too.-And-then-these-high-strung-robots-were-in-the-  
garden-so-I-asked-if-any-of-them-had-seen-you-and-if-the-King-and-Queen-would-be-awfully-disappointed-it-you-two-didn't-show-up-  
because-you-know-the-invitation-if-for-all-of-us-not-four-of-us-and-the-next-thing-I-know,-they're-pointing-me-here,-and-"

"Woah, take a deep bret dere, Speedy."

"Sorry,-Ace-it's-just-that-Zadavia's-been-worried-sick-about-you-since-you-left-and-you-haven't-been-seen-for-hours-and-it's-nearly-  
dinner-time-and-these-Martians!-Wow-are-they-ever-sticklers-for-being-on-time-"

"Okay, okay, we get da message."

"Say, Rev, what did Zadavia say about me?" Duck perked up eagerly to hear just how worried the boss had been about him as well.

"Nothing-at-all.-Why-do-you-ask?" The roadrunner cocked his head curiously, heedless at the duck's crestfallen face.

"Never mind." Danger Duck continued to sulk as the three of them headed toward the exit of the Colosseum.

* * *

"Took you guys long enough." Tech looked behind him to see the three advancing teammates, his voice half teasing and half annoyed. "We've been waiting for you." The rest of the team and Zadavia were sitting patiently at a moderately long table, and the Queen. Ace shrugged apologetically.

"Sorry, I just had a few tings ta get off my chest." Ace didn't realize just how hungry he was until the three of them had sat down in their places where empty bowls were waiting for them. He noticed that Ambassador Johnson was curiously absent from the sitting.  
"Uh. . .where's Maxima?"

"The Ambassador sends her regrets that she is unable to attend tonight as she said she is feeling rather ill."

"Man all that exercise sure helped me build up an appetite." Duck took a chair between Ace and Lexi. Rev looked at the mallard incredulously.

"What-are-you-talking-about?-I'm-the-one-who-had-to-make-two-trips-to-carry-you-back-since-you-had-no-ride-and-let-me-tell-you-  
even-with-superspeed-you-guys-are-_heavy_-and-it-took-me-twice-as-long-to-make-the-trips-as-it-usually-would."

"Does that thing of yours ever shut up?" Lexi looked up and recognized the young woman she had trounced earlier on as she entered the dining area. Her military suit had been abandoned for a light blue tunic similar to the Queen's. She seemed to have healed just fine, though her temper seemed to be just as hot as ever.

"Marvella! Manners! These are our guests." The Martian Queen harshly scolded. Marvella muttered an apology that didn't sound quite sincere and then sat herself down next the Queen. The older Martian shook her head as at the girl's abrupt attitude, but she figured there would be time for chiding later when there wasn't an audience.  
"I'm sorry." Tyr'ahnee addressed others, suddenly realizing they had not all made introductions. "Um. . .I'd like you to meet my daughter and heir." The Martian princess merely nodded a silent greeting.

"Great." Lexi spoke to herself. "Out of all the soldiers I could have blasted into unconsciousness, I had to take out the King and Queen's daughter. Super." Well, maybe she could try and salvage this.  
"So. . .Marvella, is it?" Lexi tried to start a civil conversation with the irritable Martian. The last thing she wanted was to send the next few days on anyone's bad side and potentially jeopardize the mission.  
"Look, I'm sorry I shot you back there. I mean, if our roles were reversed you'd have done the same thing, right? So. . .maybe we can put this all behind us and . . .I don't know. . .be friends?" She only got a grunt in response.  
"Fine, be a jerk." Lexi muttered to herself out of hearing for those who weren't right next to her. She wasn't about to bend over backwards to please anyone who insisted on being snarly with her. At least no one could say she hadn't tried.

"Where's your brother?" The older Martian looked to her daughter as to her son's whereabouts. She needn't had asked, as soon the boy came limping into the dinning room. He had cleaned himself off from the work Ace had seen him doing last, and had changed into a fresh white and green toga. However, it was obviously just recently, as he was still apple-cheeked from his exercises. He didn't say anything as he was too busy still trying to catch his breath, but he managed a friendly wave as he all but collapsed in an empty chair.

"Oh stop being so over dramatic! It's your own fault anyway." His sister was apparently abrupt with everyone, not just visitors. Her brother glowered at her unsympathetic words, but refused to rise to the bait any further.

Meanwhile, Ace was starting to feel the unsettling sensation of a set of eyes burning through him. He glanced up across from him where the Martian King was studying him like an insect on a slide. Feeling rather self-conscious, Ace spoke up.

"Eh. . what's up Doc?" Ace didn't know just what it was about what he said, but his sentence had manage to inspire an unexpected spark of hysteria in the Martian.

"What did you say!"

"Eh. . . what's up, Doc?" Ace repeated, still unsure as to what was so infuriating about the three innocent words.

"Excuse me for a minute." The color seemed to drain from the alien's face as he shakily stood up from his seat.

"I need to check up on dinner." He turned to his wife, cutting her off from an engaging conversation she was having with Zadavia.

"Dear could you come with me into the kitchen and help me check on the yams?" He pleaded with a note of panic in his voice, not caring about the look of annoyance Tyr'ahnee was giving him at having been interrupted.

"We don't have any-"

"I know, which is why I would appreciate it if you would come with me to check if we have any. I'd really like your expertise on the matter." The glare he was giving back would have froze steam, and even the normally dominant Queen looked a bit taken aback.

"Oookay." She excused herself and followed Marvin out of the room and into the nearby kitchen, where he was waiting, rubbing his hands nervously.

"Now what's this all about?"

"Remember back a few hundred years ago when I was assigned to blow up the Earth, only since we were a part of the United Federation of Planets, we couldn't do it as part of our official policy, so I had to act on my own as though I weren't affiliated with the government and give an asinine excuse whenever inspectors showed up as to why I was blowing up the Earth? Though now that I think about it, it wasn't a very logical strategy since why should I even answer to any interplanetary inspectors when I'm not supposed to be connected to any governmental policy? And even if I weren't, that would just give away the entire plan so they could stop me anyway. Kind of ironic really since that turned out to be just what happened"

"You're drifting. . ." Tyr'ahnee rubbed her temples as she felt the signs of yet another migraine forming.

"Well, remember how I told you that a leporid Earthling kept popping up and somehow sabotaging our plans with pinpoint accuracy?"

"I think I remember vaguely you babbling about something like that at the time. What's your point?" Marvin opened the door to peak outside at their guests and pointed accusingly at the oblivious yellow rabbit.

"That's him!" Tyr'ahnee followed her husband's line of vision to where the bunny was happily chatting with his friends.

"You're kidding." Perhaps it was time to think of getting her mate some professional help. The fluffy creature, didn't at all match the descriptions she had heard over and over of her husband's earliest rival, though Marvin remained convinced.

"I kid you not."

"Strange, in all your stories, I pictured him much taller. . .and without eyelasers" She cast a doubtful glance toward her partner.

"I knew I recognized him from somewhere on that tape. How could I forget that smug overgrown hare!"

"Probably the same reason you forget to take your medication."

"You don't believe me!" Marvin choked back.

"You know, I may not be as schooled as you on Earthling biology, but wouldn't he have to be hundreds of years old if he were who you said? You know. . .dead!"

"You're right. I. . .I just got carried away. It makes no sense after all. He's probably a clone!" Marvin moaned in defeat at the implications.

"Now you're just being paranoid." Tyr'ahnee lightly dismissed the theory, though apparently Marvin was not willing to be brushed off so easily this time.

"Oh so it's perfectly rational to have people frozen for centuries and thawed out on a regular basis, believe that a couple of superpowered animals might be the result of a secret government weapons conspiracy, but if I suggest that a rabbit might be something as commonplace as a clone, that's going too far!" The smaller Martian stared up challengingly, and though the Martian Queen had no response, she refused take part in the ludicrous argument

"Whatever. I'm going back. Try not to make a scene when you return."

* * *

Lexi couldn't help it. Her ears had a mind of their own. The last time they went off was when the royal couple had been speaking privately before. However, she had only been able to pick up and translate some insignificant words here or there, the rest being in lost in their native language.

This time around, the Martians seemed too distracted to disguise their conversation from potentially prying ears, and Lexi, try as she might to tune it out, heard every word.

"I hate to pry, but what was that all about?"

"No you don't, and if you must know my husband is convinced that a long dead rival has come back to haunt him. It is of little importance, but I suggest none of you mention the subject for the remainder of your visit."

"What's da big deal? Just because I said-" Ace stopped in sentence as he realized who the Queen must have been referring to. The rest of the team seemed to understand as well. The originator behind Ace's trademark phrase was known to them all.

"So where's the grub gettin' here! I'm starving!" Duck decided to break the awkward silence.  
"Any chance of getting some bread sticks of something while we wait?" Zadavia looked positively murderous at Duck's ill manners, however Tyr'ahnee saw nothing offensive and merely chuckled.

"You sound so much like someone I used to know." Her voice was surprisingly softer, almost wistful.

"You hear that?" Duck smirked smugly toward Ace. "I remind her of someone!" As an afterthought turned to the Queen.  
"It's not anyone bad right?"

"He. . .had his moments, but overall he was very much beloved."

"Probably her pet schnauzer or somthin'" Ace chuckled to himself, though he soon noticed he was the only one laughing.

"Certainly not! He was the bravest hero Earth had to offer."

"I hope you're not referring to who I think you are." Marvin popped back into the room, dragging behind him a wheeled teacart, on top of which was a large pot of something steaming hot.

"Dear doesn't he remind you of someone?" Marvin didn't even bother to look up as he mechanically began to ladle soup for their guests.

"No."

"Um. . .Duck? Is that your name?" Tyr'ahnee interrogated the one Loonatic.

"Actually, it's Danger Duck."

"Danger Duck? Well, isn't that. . .unique." The Queen managed to suppress a grimace, though her husband wasn't nearly as considerate.

"I had a different adjective in mind." He mocked, rolling his eyes. Honestly, who named these ducks?

"Well, I was just telling him how much he reminded me of Duck Dodgers. You remember Dodgers at least don't you?"

"I wish I could forget!" Marvin growled. He continued to serve their guests, though a bit more violently than previously before slamming the bowl in front of Duck, allowing hot stew to splash carelessly over the sides.

"Wait a minute! You knew my great grandad!"

"Dodgers was your grandfather!" Both Queen and King exclaimed simultaneously, though one with surprised delight and the other with horror, the latter resulting in a whole ladle of soup missing a bowl and hitting the floor.

"Dodgers was real!" Ace and the other Loonatics turned to Duck, utterly shocked that what they had all assumed to be rants of an overeager imagination seeking attention, where actually accurate.

"HA! I told you! You thought I was making stuff up, but here's proof! My grandfather really was a great hero, just like I told ya!"

"I loved him once. . .he was the greatest hero in the galaxy. Until he ran off to marry that. . .that-" The other Martians groaned and rolled their eyes as their wife and mother began a tirade they all heard too often.

"That blond loon trollop." The three chorused wearily.

"It's okay now." The Queen calmed herself before she got too worked up in front of her guests. "I suppose everything worked out for the best."

"That's for sure!" The snide comment came, surprisingly enough, not from Marvin this time but from his daughter.

"You know, Danger," Tyr'ahnee was still having trouble addressing such a title, "perhaps when there is time, you and Tyrannus might like to get to know each other better." The young prince stared at his mother, trying to figure out what on Mars she was up to, while Duck barely acknowledged the suggestion.

"Yeah? Why would I do that?" He asked carelessly, more interested in his food than anything else. He took a gander at the kid. He didn't see anything too extraordinary or even vaguely interesting about him. And from what he witnessed earlier, he was probably a bit of a loser, too.

"Well, I'm certain you young men can find something to talk about. Tyrannus is fascinated by all our old stories of those times. I'm sure you have many more tales we haven't heard. You really seem interested in your family's history. In another world, you two could have been like brothers of a sort."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, in an acceptance to my request, Dodgers agreed to be Tyrannus's godfather. Actually, he would have had legal custody over _both_ Ty and Marvella if both of their parents were unable to care for them." Both and Duck and Tyrannus stared at each other in a sort of stunned silent shock.

"Ugh, you mean we're related to _that!_" Marvella didn't bother hiding her disgust as she pointing toward the, for once, mute mallard.

"No you're not!" Marvin asserted firmly, lest any ideas leak into his children's heads. It was bad enough it could have been a possibility, and it had always been a notion he made a point to studiously ignore.

"But if something were to have happened to you and mother, then we'd-"

"Nothing happened! Thank goodness for that! Can we focus the conversation toward more pleasant topics?"

"Just think, Duck," Lexi leaned over toward Duck, her voice lowered to a whisper, "you might not have been the weirdest one in your family after all." She gently teased. Ace overheard and couldn't help but join in the baiting.

"Maybe you should hang out wit your almost-uncle afta all an' see what might have been." Duck scowled at the rabbits' ribbing.

"Ha ha. It is to laugh. At least me and my family are liked in these parts, unlike you and Bugs!" The words were out of his beak before he knew it, and his hand flew to cover his beak far too late as he already broke the silent oath. There was a sudden collective gasp at the same time as a rather pronounced choking session from the King. The Martian quickly recovered, trembling in rage that he was fighting furiously to control and failing miserably.

"I knew it! I knew there was a connection somehow! You and that miserable creature are-"

"ENOUGH!" Tyr'ahnee bellowed before the entire table before anything else got out of hand. "I will not stand for another word on the subject. It is the past and that's that! Let us please just enjoy the rest of the evening without resorting to such drama!"

Every single guest was silent. Ace, who has been too absorbed in the goings on of the table, hadn't even got a chance to eat, though now he decided might be a good time. He looked down and, much to his astonishment, instead of hot stew, he saw a cold withered carrot sitting on his plate. He looked toward Lexi, who was staring at her own vegetable rather numbly. The rest of the guests looked quite content as they ate. Herbs and spices wafted through his nose, making his mouth water.

"Hey Doc, not ta sound ungrateful or anytin', but could we have some soup, too?" Marvin, still bitter from the latest revelation, offered a quick glower to the rabbit before quietly snarling a remark.

"What does this look like! A catering service!"

"Nice ta see all dese family reevaluations haven't spoiled our friendly little get ta getter." Ace grumbled at being so ill received for something he had no control over.

Feeling rather than seeing the glare his wife was sending him, Marvin quickly apologized.

"Sorry, but it's a bit unsettling to have the spawn of my greatest nemeses show up sitting at my table and asking me to pass the stew. It. . .just takes a little getting used to." The Martian's words seemed encouraging, though Lexi noticed he was still fidgeting as he spoke.

"Are you sure you're okay? I mean. . .you seem a little. . .tense."

"I am perfectly calm!" The Martian barked back, still irked.

"So we can see." Tyr'ahnee sarcastically observed. "By the way, you just tied your spoon into a knot." Marvin actually looked into his hands, where he was holding the twisted piece of metal, and flushed scarlet in embarrassment for his lack of self-control.

"Look, we appreciate the gesture, but truth be told, we're actually not big carrot eaters." Lexi apologized to her hosts.

"Well, I suggest you start. Those things weren't cheap." Marvin pointed out, as he got up to get another spoon. Seeing that the other Martian was saying nothing helpful, Tyr'ahnee quickly added her own assurance.

"Besides, you wouldn't like what we're having." Marvin sat back down and looked over the famished looking bunnies thoughtfully.

"How about you finish what you have first, and then I'd be happy to give you some soup if you still wish." Marvin suddenly offered, all traces of animosity gone.

"Uh. . .gee tanks." Ace managed, a bit surprised at the sudden change of attitude. Both rabbits indeed finished their meals and then helped themselves to some of the offered dinner that was sitting ready for people to take.

"Mmm, this stuff is delicious!" Lexi sipped a spoonful.

"You said it!" Ace was eagerly shoving more soup into his mouth, causing Tyr'ahnee to become increasingly pale with each bite. Marvin smiled friendly and cheerfully at the news that his work was receiving such praise.

"You like it? I made it myself! It's an old Martian recipe. However, we found many Earthlings accepted and enjoyed it just as well during the times of the colonies."

"No kiddin'?" Ace managed between spoonfuls. "So, what is it?"

"Minutal cuniculus." Marvin answered, pronouncing its Martian name.

"Sorry, my Martian is a bit rusty. Ya mind repeating dat?"

"Translated into your vernacular-" Marvin continued.

"Marvin, please don't-" Tyr'ahnee pleaded wearily for her husband to halt where he was going, though the Martian willfully ignored her.

"It's rabbit stew." He announced with no small amount of malicious glee.

"EWW!" Lexi shoved her bowl away in horror, as Ace spewed out spoonful he had just been ready to swallow, unfortunately accidently spraying the Martian in the process

"Well. . .I suppose I deserved that." Marvin wiped off the brown liquid, though still annoyed.

"Tech! Slam! How can you still be eating that?" Lexi practically screeched as she noticed the two of them reaching for second helpings. Both carnivores looked somewhat embarrassed, but neither of them decided to choose to go hungry instead.

"Hey, I'm a coyote. I have needs. Why do you think Slam and I go out for dinner every weekend alone?" Rev was silent, though Tech sighed in exasperation as he noticed that the roadrunner had none too subtly shoved his chair away from him.

"Ugh, I tink I'm goin' ta be sick!" Ace's face morphed as green as Tech's as he shoved the dish as far away as possible from him.

"Well, if you're not going to eat what's in front of you, do you mind if I take it? I don't like things to go to waste." Tyrannus spoke up for the first time all night as he accepted both bowls. He searched through his pockets until he fished out a small silver whistle, and blew into it. Lexi winced at the shrill sound though no one else seemed to notice it.

A few minutes later, a slobbering green mutt with a crimson nose began sniffing around the table. The boy scratched behind it's erect ears and set down the food bowls on the floor, where the hound gobbled up its contents greedily within seconds. Licking off the last morsels with it's long tongue, it happily began exploring all the new people. When it got to Zadavia, it seemed to take a shine to her, barking and resting his head on her lap.

"That's. . . your dog?" She stared at the creature rather uneasily. She didn't have anything against dogs per say, however this particular canine reminded her a little too much of past times. Parts of its anatomy such as it's torso, shoulder and leg had been replaced with welded metal and blinking lights and circuitry. The left side of it's face had a robotic ear and its left eye had been replaced with an red electronic one.

"How did that happen?" Tech wondered curiously about the circumstances that lead to the canine's upgrade.

"An unfortunate run-in with an explosive landmine field." Tyr'ahnee explained simply, not wishing to divulge details. Tyrannus muttered something about it not being his fault all the signs were taken down, though his mother overheard.

"What part of 'Don't ever ever ever go into the vacant field, they are forbidden' did I not make clear?"

The Martian shepherd didn't seem too bothered by it's missing parts, and continued to make soulful eyes toward the Frelengian woman.

"Hey, ya know what? He kind of looks like Optimatao." Duck laughed at the cyborganic dog as it lapped at Zadavia's fingers.

"Oh, that reminds me, how is your brother doing?" Marvin asked the Frelengian, somewhat concerned about the welfare of her sibling.  
"Did he recover from his little accident?" Zadavia forgot about the dog at her feet and stared in shock at the King.

"How did you find out about that?"

"We received an order for several cyborganic parts, several of which are primarily used only if your face has been blown off, case in point." Marvin gestured toward the emerald cyborg canine pawing at her.

"And you didn't think it odd?"

"Of course we did, but we never pry into the reasons our customers want something. We never would have gotten all that business from Freleng if we had interrogated our clients at every move."

"What business are you talking about? Imports of any kind from Mars have been strictly forbidden after you finished our original commission back over one hundred years ago."

"Really?" Marvin's eyes rose at the revelation, but he quickly shrugged it off. "Well, learn something new every day."

"And here I was thinking your little hippie planet had finally grown some sense these past few years." Tyr'ahnee shook her head at the news.  
"We had received an incredible commission for ships, weapons, robots from your brother. Far larger than what we had sent you before. Sounded like he was building his very own armada."

"You were selling the latest in war machinery and technology to my brother and you didn't even think to inform me!" Zadavia accused indignantly, though Marvin was quick to correct her.

"Yeah right, like we would give our latest and finest equipment to you flower children." He retorted with a hint of sarcasm.  
"We stocked your planet with some of our more gaudy and earlier models. Cheaper and less destructive than our finest, but adequate enough to easily take over backwater little planets. Though why he commissioned a ship to look like a giant dragon, I'll never know. You'd think if he was planning an invasion, he'd want something a little less conspicuous."

"As the ruler of Freleng, I have the right to know of any dealings with foreign powers!"

"As a _fraction_ of the ruling system of Freleng, you were not the ultimate authority on the matter." Marvin stated defensively.  
"Optimatus had all rights to do as he saw fit so long as the counsel approved. Apparently, for whatever reason, they did. Either Optimatus was being intentionally vague about the proposal or your counsel was particularly dense that day. Either way, what he did or did not decide to inform you of is a matter between the two of you."

"Besides, we figured you knew already. You two were always so close, why would he hide anything from_ you?_" Tyr'ahnee said with faux innocence.

"To think that all this time you've been supplying him-"

"Well, where did you think those weapons came from!" The Martian Queen laughed incredulously at her distraught rival, mocking her naivety.  
"Your people wouldn't raise a hand to kill a gnat laying eggs in your brain, let alone spend time and money building weapons of mass destruction if it weren't for our influence. What, did you think Optimatus just sat in a secret lab all day, tinkering away creating a mass of high tech weaponry, all of which just happened to escape your notice?"

"No, but I didn't think you were inadvertently helping him stage a coup!"

"Oh, so you two had a bit of a spat, I see. How interesting. At least one of you learned something." Tyr'ahnee sipped at her wine glass, secretly enjoying the tiff between the two siblings and the distress it was causing the young Frelengian.

"Just what do you mean by that?" Zadavia's voice held a slightly threatening quality.

"Just that I find it reassuring that at least one of you has learned that on the road to peace and order, sometimes war is necessary." Tyr'ahnee stated simply. Marvin had always remarked how the boy seemed to be the smarter of the two, and frankly after what she heard, she was inclined to agree.

Energy was beginning swirl around the Frelengian in subtle waves, an outward reflection of the fury she was fighting to reign in.

"Optimatus craved nothing more than power! He seized the throne and was a traitor to his people!"

"I never abide treason." The Martian Queen shrugged, "However, it is hardly treason to take over your own country when you are a ruler."

"He didn't care for the peace or well being of Freleng. Not like _I_ did."

"Which is why you thought it best to abandon your planet and leave Freleng in his capable hands?" The Queen retorted with a raised eye and a patronizing voice.  
"You know, instead of resisting him and helping the people you care so much about?"

"You are one to talk! You drag your own people into senseless wars which bring nothing but shame and devastation to their world and others! There is no honor in your fights! You just conquer others and subject them to your whims through your imperialist practices. Instead of working to bring peace and prosperity to Mars, you force them to suffer while you sit here and watch comfortably." At this, the Martian King stepped up to defend his wife's honor, glaring sharply at Zadavia, his voice low and hard.

"I suggest you tread lightly, Zadavia. Do not speak of matters which you know nothing of. I have worked for decades under the royal family and I have seen more things of this galaxy than you could ever imagine. Tyr'ahnee brought Mars out of the depths of collapse when predators threatened to wipe out our very existence. She have worked to make our planet strong and prosperous and she succeeded. For over two thousand years Mars was unmatched, the pinnacle of the galaxy until the mid 24th century. Yes, sacrifices were made, but it was for the greater good. It was only after we had halted our ambitions that Mars began to decline."

"It might have been good and well for your people, but for those you overtook you were nothing more than tyrants. Surely you could identify with them more, you being the victims of such injustice before."

"Life is a struggle between the strong and the weak." The Queen asserted her belief firmly. "There will always be those who will use their power to subjugate lower life forms. I don't know about you, but I prefer Mars to be a predator rather than potential prey. And for one who professes to love peace so much, you are quick to ally yourself with those you condemn. How hypocritical of you to decry Mars when you are financing your own little gang of soldiers!" Taken back by the sudden offensive charge, Zadavia sound herself on the defensive.

"The Loonatics are different! They do not use violence for their own gain, but only a means to ensure that criminals are brought to justice and countless innocents are saved!"

"Even those who enforce peace are being aggressive in that they force those who dissent to bow down to their own ideas. It is nothing short of philosophical imperialism." Tyr'ahnee insisted.  
"Earth was stronger and more aggressive than Mars in its day and thus was able force its belief of peace on other planets. If Earth had been truly peaceful and interested in non-violence, it would have rather be conquered than drag out a war for 200 years in the name of freedom and peace and risk the possibility of innocents or even the entire world being destroyed. Fascism is the idea that problems can be solved through brute force and dominating an opponent, which is how Earth won all its wars. I suggest you become more familiar with the history of the planet you adopted. Maybe then you'll see that we are not so different after all." By now, the Frelengian's ire was almost completely up, her patience hanging by a gossamer thread. She stood to excuse herself before she wound up doing something she would later regret.

"I think I've had enough of your reception, Your Highness. I thank you for your hospitality, but I think it is time I went on my way back to Acmetropolis. Loonatics, if you require me at any time, you know how to contact me."

"Allow me to escort you back to your ship." Tyr'ahnee stood up from the table as well, not willing to allow the woman to wonder the palace without her personal supervision. The two women strode out of the hall, the doors slamming behind them, echoing the now deathly silent room.

Tyrannus ran a gloved finger over his water glass, staring at its contents rather forlornly.

"Just once I'd like our family to have a dinner that didn't turn into a theatrical production." He sighed morosely. The air was thick with tension was no one dared to breath a word lest it somehow inadvertently set off another violent tirade.

Finally, unable to stand the silence anymore, Marvin spoke up, for once with no hint of malice or sarcasm, on what he assumed might be a safer topic than politics.

"So just out of curiosity, the wife and I were talking and we were just wondering how exactly did you all get super powers." The Loonatics all looked at each other for some sort of clue. They remembered Zadavia's words of how they were not to mention the fact that Optimatus had sent a meteor to Acmetropolis in an attempt to destroy the planet. After witnessing how the Martians seemed to explode at the most seemingly innocent remark, they were beginning to see the wisdom in her earlier advice.

I don't know if we're allowed to say-" Tech started before he was cut off.

"What? It's not like it's some big conspiracy or anything, am I right?" Marvin smirked as friendly as he could manage considering his audience.  
"So how did it happen? Lab explosion? Ingest experimental chemicals? Gene splicing? Get bit by a pack of radioactive rabbits?" The older Martian laughed jokingly. However, it was obvious that the Martian was not about to let the matter go, and Ace figured that the more they tried to avoid the subject, the more suspicious he might become that something was amiss. Maybe if they just made light of the matter. . .

"Actually, in da year 2772, a meteor hit da cityplanet of Acmetropolis, knocking it off its axis." Ace began. Marvin perked up, waiting for the bunny to elaborate.

"And. . .?"

"And the resulting impact unleashed some supernatural forces." Tech continued the narrative, sensing Ace's intent on glossing over certain parts.

"And the Loonatics were born!" Duck announced triumphantly, signaling the end. Marvin stared dumbfounded at the Earth creatures for several pregnant minutes.

"That's it?" He appeared absolutely crestfallen, like someone who had waited after years of hype to witness a spectacular movie, only to watch it and have it fail miserably.

"A meteor?" Marvella questioned, not exactly willing to believe the explanation herself.

"Well,. . . yeah." Lexi smiled and shrugged.

"A meteor." Marvin repeated a little more irritated this time

"Yeah, we just said-" Marvin cut off the pink bunny, his vexation becoming more and more paramount by the second.

"Let me get this straight. You six came to possess extraordinary powers beyond the realm of mere mortals because your planet was struck by a meteor!" Now it was Ace's turn to be annoyed.

"I don't see what da big deal is."

"It's stupid that's what it is!" Marvin completely broke down by now, "A meteor!" Shrinking somewhat nervously into his seat, Tyrannus winced at his father's sharpness and lack of restraint. In all his years, he had seen the man angry, but never had he witnessed the total lack of rein over his more violent emotions than when he was in the presence of the Earth creatures. Trying to play the role of diplomat, the teenager attempted to smooth things over.

"I think what my father is trying to say is that your story is a tad farfetched to be credible." Unfortunately, Tyrannu's words only seemed to add fuel to Marvin's rant

"It's beyond that! It defies all logic and science! I've read comic books with more plausible origin stories!"

"Yeesh,-sorry-to-disappoint-you." Rev muttered sarcastically.

"Typical!" The Martian slumped in his chair, pouting. "The Earthlings are hit with a meteor large enough to decimate their planet and they all get superpowers. Mars gets hit, and all we get is the death of millions and a crippling economic recession. Excuse me, I think I need some fresh air." The elder Martian pushed himself up from his seat and leaning on his cane, limped as fast as he was able out the nearest exit.

The Loonatics found themselves alone now. No ambassador or Zadavia. No ruling family. Just the two heirs who seemed just as lost as they were feeling.

Tyrannus looked for his sister for some sort of guidance, but she was content to stare at an opposite wall, letting him fend for himself and ignoring everyone else. The six Earthlings were now all staring at him, as though expecting him to do something. He felt himself starting to sweat anxiously under their collective gaze. He grinned a bit sheepishly and clapped his hands together.

"So,. . . who would like some dessert?"

* * *

Okay, I know the extent of Lexi's superhearing is up for debate, but I always assumed that she didn't have complete control over it since she's always picking up signals like a satellite of sounds she didn't mean to find. Not to mention that ambiguous scene where she was unconsciously translating dolphin speak. Thought I would throw a reference to that in there.

Also, here's a translation of one of Marvin's words, for those not interested in picking up a dictionary.

Leporid- (n) the scientific name of the family which rabbits and hares comprise.

For your own education, the little bit of Martian you read was roughly Latin. Anyone who recognizes the significance of that, gets a cookie!


	9. Chapter 9

Just a reminder. **Bold** some one speaking in the native Martian language.

**Chapter 8**

After about twenty more minutes of "fresh air" Marvin decided that even the mild negative 10 degrees temperature of the Martian night was a little too nippy for him right now. He took one last deep breath of the crisp air before heading back into the palace.

He was still annoyed, but this time for a much different reason. He lost all control back there. In the billions of years he'd been alive, he had never been one to let his emotions gain the upper hand. Even when he had felt murderous rage threateningly bubbling toward the surface, he had always managed to keep it on a short leash. It was visible, but had never erupted in such a degree. It had never managed to make him shout at such a loud decibel or mouth such scathing remarks. He chalked it up to old age and the ever piling amount of stress he was under. Still, it was no excuse. Such mannerisms were unbecoming.

He would apologize. Profusely. Even if he had to lie through his teeth while he was saying it. His inability to control his instincts may have very well jeopardized the mission. He could already hear his wife's nagging voice berating him for letting his emotions cloud his better judgement.

When he arrived back at the table, it was eerily quiet. And no wonder. Everyone was gone. There were a few dirty dishes left over. Obviously, old habits were hard to kill. He'd have to have a chat with his children about that later on.

Still, he couldn't just. . . leave them there. They threw the whole room off balance. And he could already visualize the filth caking on with each second he left them. Verbally cursing his obsessive compulsive tendencies he gathered as many dishes as he could manage with one hand and limped toward the kitchen. He wound up making three trips all together before he settled down comfortably into the ritual, elbows deep in suds.

There was something rather relaxing about certain manual labor, especially cleaning. If nothing else, his constant need for order helped cut back on palace expenses for servant work. As he meticulously scrapped with his thumb at some dried gristle on a bowl, he found himself wondering. . .what was it about those two Earthlings in particular that had driven him so insane?

He certainly had experience working with an enemy before, and it wasn't like he had any real prior knowledge of them beforehand. Guilt by association was not a philosophy he cared to go by normally. The former Earth rabbit was dead. Or if by some miracle of science, he wasn't, he sure wasn't planning on showing his face anytime soon. As for Dodgers. . .Well, he saw the duck go to his final rest with his own two eyes. Even if he did manage to produce a lineage, there was no guarantee the later generations would be anywhere near as annoying or troublesome. No, there was something else.

He had forgotten. Or at least, he had willed himself to forget. He had been all too happy to put aside any images and association with the two meddlesome animals who had been such cornerstones in two separate times in his career. One would think that someone could not forget such encounters, yet he willingly chose to ignore them all to the point where they were just vague names and faces. The appearance of their spawn centuries later had burst open the floodgates, causing every single raw emotion associated with them to come bursting forth.

Yet, was that the whole story? Was he really just caught off guard and had lashed out instinctively as a result? No. . .there was another factor lurking in the back.

His family. That was the core of it all. Perhaps. . .if he had encountered the rabbit and duck alone. He wouldn't have been thrilled or even that accepting of their existence, but it would have been far more tolerable. But the presence of his kin had added extra bitterness to the situation. His wife was critical enough of everyone and everything as it was, without getting a physical reminder that she had literally and figuratively settled. As for his children. . . For the past 300 something years he had been making up for real and imagined past inadequacies. Even when retelling some of his exploits to his children, though he lost or failed a mission, he always managed to put a spin on his tales to make his adversaries come out looking stupid or lucky (not that that interpretation was completely false). But he had always wanted them to look at their parent with pride. And better they should hear about the past from him than from some chatty Centurion with an ax to grind. So he fudged a few details. It wasn't like anyone was going to call him up on it. If his wife wanted to out him, she had plenty of opportunities. Only now there was the distinct threat that one of those two newcomers might very well expose him.

"Well, this wouldn't be the first time I acted like an idiot." He muttered to no one in particular as he finished drying the last glass. He peeled off the yellow rubber gloves and put them aside, stifling a large yawn.  
"Nothing like a late night of dish washing and an epiphanic moment of self introspection to get one longing for sleep." It was a good fifteen minutes later that he managed to climb back up to his quarters. He entered cautiously, expecting his love to be on the other side, either impatiently waiting to berate him or sound asleep. She was neither. She wasn't even in the room. Curious.

He decided to wait up for her. Still clad in his uniform, he settled onto the bed and flipped through the pages of the latest novel he was engrossed in. He barely skimmed the first paragraph when the electronic sliding doors somehow managed to slam open.

"That infuriating woman! How dare she-AHH!" Well, looks like he wasn't the only one who was reeling from the night's affair.

"I take it your night was just as jubilant as mine's been." He smiled, eyes still glued to the pages.

"Don't get me started!" She snapped back. "I'm not in the mood." He glanced up to watch her furiously rub at her temples with both hands.

"So I can see."

"So what are you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be back with the others?" Right to the point, as per usual. He sighed as he closed his book.

"Everyone's decided to retire for the evening. Though you'll be happy to know that the legion of superanimals are not part of any insidious scheme. Turns out they were the unfortunate side effects of a cosmic collision." She blinked silently for a moment, as though her mind was having trouble processing what was just said to her.

"What?" She finally spoke up.

"You heard me. Those miraculous Earthlings came to be as a result of a freak accident."

"What sort of 'accident'?"

"Apparently a meteor hit them and released some supernatural forces or something that resulted in the manifestation of their powers."

"Of all the- How could that be possible?! It's not like Earth or any other planet hasn't been hit by space debris before. And they never resulted in anything of this degree. The last time they got hit, life practically had to start all over. Of all the luck!"

"Tell me about it. Mother of Mars, I almost wished it_ were_ government experimentation!"

"Well, since they are clearly not part of any government agency, that at least alleviates one possible obstacle in our strategy. We can still go on with our original plan. Goddesses knows Mars cannot afford to last much longer without the financial resources we can tap form Earth " Marvin merely nodded as his partner collapsed dejectedly on the coverlet.  
"How did we come to this?" She wearily asked her husband.

"You mean how we allowed the most powerful empire in the galaxy to be degenerate to a mere shadow of its former glory, or how we've reduced ourselves to trying to weasel money out of lesser lift forms to keep it adrift?"

"I mean how did we allow ourselves to become so soft?"

"Well, domesticity tends to have that effect on couples. It's the natural order of things."

"I didn't mean it that way!" She attempted to snarl, but lacked the energy at this point.

"Neither did I. We just have different priorities now than when we were younger." He sighed as he remembered the glory of the good old days. Nostalgia for his early years as a young Commander seemed to make all the troubles he had faced before rather quaint in comparison to the troubles they now had. Tyr'ahnee seemed to be wallowing in the past as well as she stared at the ceiling, talking more to herself in reflection.

"I allowed my Empire to crumble before my very eyes."

"Come now, it isn't your fault. No one could have predicted the events of last year." Marvin patted her lap in a tender gesture of comfort and reassurance.

"But I had ample time to strengthen us." She insisted. "The damage wouldn't have devastated us nearly as much as it did. Instead, I allowed all of Mars to lie asleep all these years, lazy and content to ignore the rest of the universe."

Well, that was certainly true to an extent. Amazing how so many years without strife can cause an entire planet to become so comfortable as to be incapable in the face of challenges. Mars' status was practically chaotic, when it wasn't too long ago, they would have been able to shake off worse.

The reason Mars had always been so powerful was because it never shirked from conflict, even if they had to supply it themselves. Peace had made Mars weak in the past, and despite the lessons of history, they had allowed Mars to follow a similar path with equally devastating results. And unless there was a way to snap the inhabitants out of their stupor which resulted from it, there would be little chance of steering away from another fate even if they were to somehow get through this one.

"Well, if that's what's eating you up inside," Marvin sighed, "I'm sorry to say the only remedy for that would be another war. And good luck with that happening anytime soon."

"As usual, you have a knack to observing the most depressingly obvious. I just pray that we can convince the Earth to buy our arm stocks until we can get back on our feet. Otherwise. . ." She let the sentence hang unfinished. They both knew all too well what would happen if they failed in this venture. They were both content to lie silently together for a moment, though slowly Marvin's half closed eyes rose open as a thought flitted to the surface of his brain.

"I believe I may have a better idea in mind." He slid off the bed and pressed a button on the intercom on the wall. "Marvella, could you please join us in our room for a moment." It was more of a command than anything. A rather tired and annoyed voice moaned at the other end.

"What? Now?" Marvin didn't have time for this.

"Yes, now!" He insisted a bit impatiently. Tyr'ahnee observed him curiously from the other side of the room.

"What are you up to now?"

"Well, you agreed we needed a war to pull us out of this depression. I think I can supply one." Her husband smirked.

"And why would we want another war?" It took centuries for them to finally achieve peace, and now her husband was looking for a way to throw it away?

"Because you said so yourself that we've become soft. Mars was one of the most successful, feared and respected powers in the galaxy in its prime. Now look at us! Why can't we go back and bring Mars back to what it once was?"

"Because we're broke for starters." Tyr'ahnee scoffed. "That's why we're hosting those miserable Earthlings in the first place."

"And then what?" Marvin countered. "Content ourselves just to build up enough to supply weapons to them for profit? How long until they are technologically advanced enough decide they no longer require our services, and we find ourselves right back where we started from? No clientele and barely making enough to sustain the population."

"It wouldn't be indefinitely. Our economy just needs a crucial boast. Then we can quit."

"Meanwhile, we would have succeeded in creating a new and more powerful enemy by turning Earth into a galactic superpower. No, it will do us more harm than good. Besides it didn't work last time." He added as an afterthought.

"So what do you suggest?" His wife asked, rather curious at this point what her husband offered as an alternative.

"What if I told you we could have a new weapon? One so great and so deadly, other planets would fall to their knees and surrender whatever we desired to us, just so we might spare them?" At this point, Tyr'ahnee was torn as to whether to be joyous or furious.

"I'd say, 'where have you been hiding this 'weapon' all this time and why have you not informed me of it until now?'"

"Well,. . .it hasn't actually been. . . built. . .yet." Marvin ran a hand behind his head somewhat sheepishly. Tyr'ahnee's heart and expectations sank as she crossed her arms.

"I knew this was too good to be true."

"I said not _yet_." Marvin was not willing to let his wife totally dismiss the notion yet. "I think I can create something quite suitable for our needs."

"Glad to see you've thought this through." His wife answered sarcastically.

"Oh ha ha. You can go continue with the original goal if you wish. I have other plans." Their arguments were interrupted when their was a knock at the doors, allowing their daughter dressed in a purple night robe to enter.

"You wished to see me, father?"

"Um, yes, Marvella, come in. As you know, you and I haven't made the best of impressions to our guests this night."

"If this is about the remarks I made earlier, I'll apologize, however, I really think they were relevant." She made as if to leave, thinking the discussion was settled until her father stopped her.

"Never mind all that. That is all the past. We must try to make amends. All of us. Tomorrow, you and your brother are going to be going with them on the relief mission. Try to make them feel welcome on our world. Make friends if possible. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal, father." She tried not to let the disdain she felt at the thought of having to befriend one of those creatures show itself in front of her parents.

"Excellent! I know you will do fine! We'll speak further in the morning. Goodnight, pumpkin!" Father and daughter hugged before departure. When she had left, Marvin began to change into his pajamas while his wife glared at him accusingly.

"What was that all about?"

"What was 'what' all about?" Marvin feigned innocence as he kicked off his sneaker.

"Don't play stupid with me!" She snarled animatedly, "That chat you had with our daughter. What was that all about?!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about. Can't a father speak with his offspring without arousing suspicious thoughts?" He finished buttoning his top and made his way to his side of the bed.

"Just what exactly are you up to?"

"Last time I checked, you weren't the least bit interested in my plan. Since you've already made up your mind on the matter, I feel that divulging any more information at this time could seriously compromise my project. That being said, I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning." He climbed under the covers turned off his light on his side, leaving his wife to rant in semi darkness.

"This discussion is not over! Are you listening to me?! Marvin, don't you dare ignore me! Answer me when I'm speaking to you!"

"Good night." He smirked as he drifted off.

* * *

"Well, that could have gone better!" Tech collapsed onto his bed as he tried to forget the disastrous evening they all had.

"That's-the-biggest-understatement-of-the-year-if-I-ever-heard-it!"

"I don't know what you guys are complaining about!" Lexi pouted. "You weren't being given the evil eye all night from that little witch!"

"It's better than being hated solely based on your ancestors!" Duck pointed out, indicating that Lexi's troubles were nothing in comparison. "That guy looked at us like he wanted to poison our food when he found out."

"We got bigga problems dan dat guys." Ace tried to steer the conversation to a topic of grave importance. "How are we supposta explain ta Ambassador Johnson what happened tanight? We need ta salvage dis as soon as possible. Odderwise de entire mission could be in jeopardy."

"Gathzarathzzzattthha what we do?"

"What _can_ we do? Unless Tech has a spare reality altering device so we can make Ace and Duck's ancestor's become plumbers or something." Lexi joked halfheartedly.

"We need to speak with Ambassador Johnson as soon as possible. Maybe she can help us find a way to smooth this whole mess over." Tech suggested, willing to do anything at this point if it could help the mission to eliminate one more potential enemy of Earth.

"It's gettin' a little too late ta talk ta her right now. Not ta mention she still might be feelin' unda da wetter. Perhaps we can get up eoily ta talk wit her in da morning."

"Good idea." Duck yawned and stretched, wanting nothing else better than to hit the sack. "I've been yelled at enough for one night."

* * *

The entire team was snoring peacefully save one. Ace got up and glanced out the window where the sky was still tinged ruby by the trace amount of sun, indicating that morning had not just yet arrived.

He glanced around to see if anyone else had gotten up at such an early forsaken hour, but the only movements he saw were Rev's accelerated bed tossing and Slam's unconscious chewing and ripping of his pillow. Stifling a yawn, Ace managed to drag himself up out of bed and put on his uniform. He wasn't exactly resigned to stay in the room waiting for the others to wake, since that could be hours later, so instead he decided to take a stroll around the halls. So long as he wasn't making any disturbances, he was sure any guards he came across would cause him no trouble.

He wished that Ambassador Johnson would be up and about, and that he would some how come across her, as unlikely a scenario as that was. He was still troubled by the calamitous evening they all had. It was bad enough he had made a horrible first impression by tackling and pinning the King of Mars, but to later discover that the Martian loathed his ancestor and anyone related to him, must have been just another big checkmark on his list on his reasons to hate him. If Johnson couldn't convince the royalty to continue toward peace with Earth because of this latest development, then Ace didn't know what they would do.

Somehow the bunny managed to get himself lost again. He almost wandered outside, but the arctic blast of air that hit him, caused him to shut the doors, a sharp contrast to the more tolerable climate they experienced yesterday during the daylight hours. Shivering, his breath forming short visible clouds, Ace decided to keep moving to warm himself back up. As he walked, he found himself once more in the room where everything had gone downhill. And as his luck would have it, it was occupied by the same Martian who was the source of all his grief.

'_Maybe if I back out slowly, he won't notice I'm here.' _Ace attempted to back out of the room, but was halted when a stern, nasally voice echoed through the mostly empty chamber.

"Rough night for you, too, rabbit?" The King sat in a chair, covered in a fuzzy red bathrobe and slippers, his eyes never leaving the newspaper he held in front of him

"Eh, yeah. . .I'll just leave ya alone if ya wish-"

"Nonsense. Come over here. I wish to speak with you." Hesitantly, Ace walked over to the table where the Martian sat. Marvin finished off the last paragraph and noticed the rabbit was still standing across from him."Sit." It wasn't a request, and Ace found himself sitting robotically into the chair, stiff with tension, as the Martian folded his paper and set it aside next to a small wooden crate on the table."Can I get you anything?"

"Eh, no, dat's all right. I'm good."

"There's something of great importance I want to discuss with you-" a shill whistle from the back kitchen rang out, causing Marvin to stand.  
"I'll be but a moment." Ace wondered how the Martian could remain so calm after how he blew his stack last night. Even this morning, Ace found himself still a tad bit jumpy, waiting for the ax to fall, while the man had just sat there and offered him breakfast. It was driving him up the wall!

Despite his objections, the Martian returned with two mugs in one hand, filled with boiling hot water. He offered a mug with a peculiar circular red design on it, which sort of resembled a tunnel made of different sized rings.

"Here. I assure you no animals were harmed in the making of this." Marvin opened the wooded crate to take out a tea bag and let it soak into his own mug, then offered the box to Ace. Marvin added a small wedge of lemon before taking a prolonged sip from his mug which seemed to read # / DAad in faded marker.  
"I'm. . .not good with apologies." He started hesitantly and with great difficulty. "However, I think this situation warrants one. I. . .overreacted last night. My actions were inexcusable and I humbly ask you and your friends' forgiveness." Ace gulped at the scalding liquid. He certainly wasn't expecting anything like this.

"Dat's all right, Doc. We bote got off ta a rocky start."

"Still, I wish to assure you all that I harbor no ill intentions toward you and that nothing from yesterday will be affecting how we conduct business. In fact, I actually have need of your services."

"Soivices?" Ace blinked.

"Yes. You see, this whole business with Earth and Mars is rather. . .complicated. It is not completely contingent on the Queen's and my approval. There are some factors involved that may hinder any progress."  
"The people, you see, are a lot less forgiving than I am about the history of strife between our two worlds. They've been burned before by Earth, you see, and are less than willing to see another truce with your planet. If peace is to be accomplished, we will need to foster the approval of the people so there is no trouble later on. Otherwise, I fear retaliation may come about from some of the more violent dissidents, either against our family or your government."

"So, you want us ta try an' convince your people dat da Eoith are okay folk. Soitently, I tink we can manage dat. Just tell us what ya want us ta do."

"As it happens, some of the officers and my children are making a run to deliver supplies to a nearby city. I think it would be a good idea if you joined them, as a sign of good will toward the community. They could use all the help they can get. I would accompany you as well, but circumstances being what they are-" He tapped the metal cast on his leg with his cane in emphasis."I'm afraid I'd be of little use."

"Say no more, Doc. Me and da Loonatics will be happy ta help out!"

* * *

"Remind me again why we had to get up early and sit in a roofless hovercar for an hour." Duck complained from his seat.

"Come on, Duck." Tech attempted to coax the mallard. "Ace says this will be a good way to show the Martian people a sign of peace from Earth."

"Does our sign have to include me freezing my tailfeathers off?!" Duck pulled into himself even tighter, trying to keep warm.

"It's not dat cold, ya big baby. Not like before, anyways. And, it should warm up by dis afternoon. In da meantime just enjoy da ride."

"Easy for you to say! You're wearing a fur coat! There's a reason duck's fly south, you know!" It was times like this, Duck wished he was a mammal like most of the others. Even Rev was feeling the effects of the frigid climate, despite the heater they insisted the driver put on, choosing to remain uncharacteristically silent during the ride. Duck was just thankful, they weren't making this run at night, when the cold was probably lethal.  
"Are we almost there?"

"We'll be arriving at our destination in approximately five minutes." The Centurion driving them announced from the front.

When the car finally arrived at the destination, there were several hovering trucks already unloading ahead of them. They barely got out of their own craft when one of the commanding officers shoved a heavy crate into Ace's arms.

"Take this to the back of the third building on the right." The burly Martian barked his orders. "Hand it over to the officer there and return back here as quick as possible. The rest of you grab a box. And no chatting!" The rest of the team wasted no time locating crates and delivering them to their appointed address.

At first, the only ones besides them who were stirring were the other officers and a few merchants who were preparing to set up shop for the day. As the morning lengthened, the town buzzed alive with the stirring of other citizens. A fair amount of civilian Martians gathered in a group to the side, curiously watching the strangers who were helping the military officers.

"Looks like we're quite a show, huh guys?" Ace smirked as he noticed more Martians joining in to see the sight of them working.

"Hurray." Duck grumbled without humor. He muttered in annoyance when he noticed one person not hauling any heavy loads like the rest of them  
"Hey, why is junior over there not breaking his back like the rest of us?" Duck complained as he noticed Tyrannus in a somewhat different miliary uniform than the others, standing to the side with a checklist taking inventory of everything being delivered.  
"Hey you!" Tyrannus whipped around to find who addressed him before spying Duck.

"Me?"

"Yeah you. Listen, my dogs are barking if you know what I mean. What do ya say you just take some of these boxes over for me while I rest my aching feet?"

"Well. . .I don't know. . .I have a lot of work to do, and the Commanders might-"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of your work. It's only fair, right?" Duck flashed the most reassuring smile he could muster. He didn't really think it would work, but the young prince seemed to comply.

"I suppose. . .you sure you know how to?" Duck couldn't believe his luck. Apparently, the kid was about as bright as he looked.

"Don't worry about a thing! Your bosses will never know you were gone." He dumped his cargo into the arms of the teenager, who swayed a bit under the tremendous weight.

"Thanks a bunch!" As the boy staggered off, Duck glanced at the clipboard. Frowning, he turned the thing upside-down and sideways, but still couldn't read the foreign characters.  
" I can't make heads or tails out of this. I'm pretty sure it's written in Chinese."

Lexi and Ace were just about to drop off their own packages when they noticed Duck's temporary replacement struggling up behind them. The boy was carrying a box nearly twice as big as he was, and from the looks of it, was fighting a losing battle trying to keep it off the ground.

"Ya need a hand wit dat?"

"No. . .it's okay. . .I got it" With great effort he shifted his stance to get a better grip on the crate, and ended up bending backward at a rather awkward angle, "I got it, I-" The prince's battle over gravity finally came to an end as he lost his balance and ended up crashing down to the ground on his back, the crate crushing him chest to ankles, leaving only his head, arms and sneakered feet unpinned.

"You okay kid?!" Ace and Lexi rushed to the Martian's side.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The teenager managed to squeak under the burden. In the background, some of the spectators snickered at the spectacle while a shadow fell over his face. Tyrannus looked up only to see his older sister glancing down at him condescendingly.

"Well, you seem off to a great start as usual this morning, Tyrannus." She grinned. Lexi and Ace went to lift the box off the boy, allowing him to get up off the rusty ground and dust off his dark olive-colored pants. The prince glared back at his sister, but quit as soon as a Commander came onto the scene.

"What are you doing, Tyrannus?" The Commander asked somewhat irked at having to deal with a delay in schedule.

"Delivering care packages, sir." The teenager still had the state of mind to salute when addressing a superior officer.

"You two, get back to work" The Commander addressed the two rabbits, before turning to the young ensign. "As for you, when I give you an assignment, I expect you to follow it, not run off on your own. Understand?"

"Yes sir." Tyrannus did not even bother try to explain anything, but dutifully headed back to his post, where he located Duck still struggling to take inventory.  
"Sorry, but I need to get back to my work."

"Fine by me. You should try writing in a language people can understand." Duck handed back the clipboard before heading back to the truck.

* * *

"Last one." Tech announced as he dropped off the box about an hour later. Thankfully, for the rest of them, Rev's tremendous speed managed to cut the work time into a fraction of what it would normally be.

"Finally!" Duck practically collapsed as he delivered his own crate.

"I wonda what dese crates are for anyway?" Ace leaned against one, thinking aloud.

"We finished far ahead of schedule than expected, this day." A Commander smirked in satisfaction as he checked his pocket watch. "The only work left for today is some construction, but that is the Centurions' job. You may feel free to explore the town, if you wish, but don't wander off too far. We meet back here at 1200 hours."

"Alright! Some sightseeing!" Lexi shot up ready to see the exotic city.

"You go do that." Duck settled into a spot, sitting near a wall, and shut his eyes. "Wake me up in 1200 hours." He mallard was rudely yanked upright by the team leader.

"Come on, Duck! How often is it dat ya get to go ta Mars?!"

* * *

"Not exactly a cheery place, is it?" Ace looked around the marketplace dismally as many of the inhabitants either watched them warily or glared at them with disdain for invading their home.

"Tell me about it." Lexi had tried to browse several stands, but had decided to give it up as a number of the vendors were awfully curt and kept eyeing her hands as though expecting her to try and steal something.

"Well, I'm gettin' a bit hungry. Maybe we can find someone here willin' ta sell us someting ta eat." Ace and Lexi searched around until the finally found a somewhat dubious looking produce stand.  
"Excuse us, Doc, would ya mind tellin' us what's on sale taday?"

"You wish to buy?" The tall vendor looked up somewhat startled, as if he had never before received a customer.

"We're buyin' if you're sellin.'"

"What would you like?" The Martian addressed them in a businesslike tone.

"This sounds crazy, but I'm actually dying for a carrot!" The Martian vendor snorted at Lexi's remark, somehow not surprised at the request.

"You truly are an adventurous lady." He remarked wryly. "One carrot, coming up."

"Eh, make dat two, Doc. Two each I mean."

"Living dangerously today, are we?"

"Ha ha. Just give us four carrots an' hold da wisecracks."

"You're the boss." The vendor went out back and produced a box full of the most pathetic and sickliest looking excuses for carrots the two rabbits ever seen. The withered vegetables lay limp as noodles on top of each other.

"Uh, what are those?" Lexi poked at the shriveled plants, half expecting them to turn to dust and blow away.

"Pumpkins! What do you think they are?!" The vendor snapped impatiently. Ace was going to decline, however his stomach chose just the second to make it's wishes heard, grumbling quite audibly.

"Eh, how much?"

"Five hundred credit!"

"Five hundred credit?! Dat's highway robbery, dat's what dat is!"

"I have no time for haggling. These are the best produce in the city and it is quite a reasonable price. Are you going to buy or not?!"

"I tink not, Doc." Ace offered his apologies, which apparently went unnoticed as the vendor let out a stream of Martian words, none of which sounded even remotely polite.

* * *

Duck had wandered off away from Ace and Lexi, after promising he would at least make an attempt to absorb some culture on the trip. He didn't know why he bothered. He had no money, didn't speak the language, and even if he did, no one seemed interested in chatting anyway.

His luck seemed to run in circles since while he was wandering, he managed to stumble across the same boy from this morning.

"Hello, sir." Duck couldn't help but roll his eyes at being so formally addressed. Given what he had heard from the Queen last night, the kid had to be several hundred years older than him at least, if he was alive when Duck's great grandfather was. Yet he was addressing the mallard as he might his elders. Must be a habit of his. That or the fact that, technically, the kid was still a youngster in his species, while Duck was an adult.  
"I've been looking to speak with you." Ah, so their latest encounter was no accident.

"Look, I'm sorry about this morning, okay? I already got the third degree from Ace." Duck began, hoping to avoid a lecture about his "taking advantage".

"Sorry about what this morning?" The boy looked back innocently at the duck, not understanding what he was referring to.

"Eh, never mind. So, what do ya want?"

"Actually I wanted to speak to you about last night-"

"Oh man! Not you, too!" Duck moaned, not wanted to hear another rant about who he was related to.

"No, no. . .I mean. . ." Tyrannus tried to assure the duck that his intentions were not malicious,"last night, mother said that your great grandfather was my godfather."

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, I was wondering. . ." he shuffled nervously, afraid his request would be denied, "could you tell me what he was like? I was too young to know him well. Father refuses to tell me everything and mother just acts weird whenever I mention him to her. But I thought maybe. . .you might-" At this Duck examined the Martian, warily, wondering if he was playing some sort of prank. But he could detect nothing devious in the kid. He didn't really seem capable of lying in the first place anyway, even if he wished to. Duck smirked as he prepared to do one of the many things he excelled at.

"He was one of the greatest heroes of all time! Why I remember my dad telling me about this one time-"

* * *

"Oh-MAN-I-am-bored-bored-BORED-I-mean-there-is-nothing-to-do-around-here-and-I-should-know-because-I-checked-this-entire-  
place-out-TWICE-and-found-nothing.-There-is-barely-any-room-to-run,-which,-I'll-tell-you,-makes-it-very-difficult-to-check-anything-out-  
at-top-speed.-I-had-to-cut-my-pace-by-half-I-think-even-though-I-still-managed-to-make-it-completely-around-in-only-" A firm green paw shot out and clamped Rev's beak shut, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"Hey, just because you can tour the entire city in under five minutes, doesn't mean the rest of us can't take a look around." Tech released his hold on the roadrunner's beak, as he tried to soak in some of the culture of the planet without Rev's constant chattering. They had traveled far into the heart of the city, and the coyote was hoping to find something more sophisticated than in the marketplace. While he would much rather be exploring a university or a science facility on the planet, Tech figured he could at least find a good bookstore while he was here. Maybe find a science journal that he could try translating in his spare time.

"Careful. . .careful. . .easy does it. . ." Tech's ears perked at the sound of familiar mechanical voices directing nearby. Several Centurions were lifting up a metal beam and floating to the top of the skeleton of what would one day be an immense skyscraper. At the bottom, one robot was sending directions to his comrades, before they started welding.

"Need a hand." Tech spotted a beam lying on the ground, pulses of green energy emitted from his hands and eyes as he reached and magnetically lifted the heavy shaft into the air.  
"Just tell me where you want this." The centurion director pointed toward a spot high and to the right of them. Concentrating with all his might, Tech pushed the metal as high as he could until the robots there had secured and fastened it. Nodding in approval, the droids pointed toward another, eagerly accepting the coyote's assistance.

There was something about construction which attracted all the men in the area to watch, including Rev and Slam, as they all stood as spectators, mesmerized by the manual labor. However, Tech and the construction workers weren't the only attractions drawing a crowd.

"**It is time my brothers and sisters to act! For far too long we have waited for our rulers to act. But they are too slow for the needs of Mars' people. While they sit by idly doing nothing to address our problems, our children are dying in the street! And now we see that they allow such common filth, these Earth dogs to contaminate our world! Shall we sit by and do nothing while these creatures invade our homes? How long before they will return and in greater numbers to take what is rightfully ours? The royalty does nothing! The council is silent! There are soldiers everywhere! It is time for a new beginning! A revolution is dawning!" **

"Oh Mother of Mars, not this guy again!" A Commander spotted the lanky Martian decked in crimson and orange, standing on a box addressing a growing crowd of spectators. Rev and Slam turned away from watching Tech to see where the Commander was observing. Another officer pondered aloud toward the Commander.

"I thought our intelligence said he had been spotted in Imperial City several thousand miles away from here?"

"Well, it looks like he moved." The Commander responded, distrust and suspicion spilling out in his tone toward the Martian on the soapbox.

The Martian was preaching angrily, at least it seemed so for Slam and Rev who couldn't understand his words, to the people. The more he spoke, the more agitated the Commander and the people got. Rev tapped on the Commander's shoulder to ask what was going on.

"Who-is-that-guy?"

"An anarchist of the worst sort." The Commander answered, his eyes still trained on his target, not daring to turn away. "He and his gang of marauders have been seeking to overthrow the government for decades and establish their own rule. We had never paid them too much attention before, for their numbers were few, their ideas unpopular, and they had not done anything other than talk. It is only recently they have gathered more supporters, since Mars has been suffering lately. The palace has been directing most of its resources toward reconstruction, but it has left them tapped since there are so many places that need help, some more than others. This fellow has been preaching to anyone who'll listen that the palace has been purposely holding out on them. Unfortunately, he has found an advantage to exploit. He's been causing a number of disturbances in this area. We have no hard evidence at this time to act upon, though we know he's been in the middle of them. It seems every single time he opens his yap, there's a riot. And we've been getting reports of similar activity in other cities. " The three watched intensely for several minutes. As the speaker got more animated, the audience became more and more antsy. Finally, the Commander signaled to two more guards to accompany him.  
"**Step down, Sir. You are causing a public disturbance." **The Commander and his guards pushed their way to the front of the crowd to stand right below the speaker, addressing him in their native language. The man, however, refused to budge.

"**I only speak the truth! The people have the right to know the truth!"**

"**In that case, you should definitely hold your tongue, for you speak nothing but lies and slander!" **A lower guard accused vehemently. The Commander merely held up his hand, silently signaling to his officer to be quiet for the moment.

"**Do I? Do not the people still live in conditions less than what we once were?! Even after an entire year?!"**

"**Your memory must be slipping, or have you already forgotten that there has been a planet-wide catastrophe?" **The Commander replied sternly yet calm. **"We are doing all we can to remedy the situation."**

"**Yet there are still women and children starving in the streets!" **There was a couple of hushed whispers among some of the listeners, nodding their affirmation of the statement's validity. The Commander remained undisturbed, steady in his convictions.

"**If you had any sort of sense at all, you'd know that the military makes runs every day to supply food to those who cannot afford it. We have set up stations in all inhabited areas to feed those who are in need. All out of the palace's own pockets since they know most of you could not survive if they raised taxes."**

"**You think you are so charitable, yet you do nothing to help the people figure out a way to fend for themselves! You do not think them capable of living without your support!"**

"**The game preserve, which we were all lucky to have it escape the destruction, is open to the public to catch their own meat if they wish. And if you and your mob of anarchists would stop destroying everything we try to build, we could accumulate the resources needed to re-enrich the earth so that more could be grown by the farmers."**

"**How convenient. We must only bow down and obey your every command if we want to see results! I and Mars' true patriots would rather starve than feed into the corrupt system you slave to defend!"**

" **You complain when we try to help you that we are not doing enough. Then you deny our help all together, saying death is more preferable. Well, pick one! Which is it that you want?!"**

"**I want change! The Queen is just a spoiled little girl who has no concept of the real livelihoods of her citizens! Her husband is a greedy militaristic opportunist who married her for her money! I shudder to imagine what loathsome lessons the two of them are instilling in the future heirs." **At that statement, many of the people shifted uneasily. Not many of them would agree to such a declaration, especially the older men and women who still remembered the war with Earth and the Martian Queen's leadership through it, and thus still maintained a fierce loyalty to her.

"**You would do well not to speak of things which you have no knowledge of! You have been wanting to overthrow the throne for decades and are now only using this latest crisis as an excuse to further your crusade! You are nothing but a loathsome traitor to the crown and all of Mars!" **The Commander's temper was just hanging by a shred. Seeing the officer's blustered state, the orator continued to invoke the people

"**You see?!" **The speaker addressed the audience, trying to obtain their sympathy, **"Anyone who dares challenge the social order is silenced! I cannot even make a criticism of the system before the royalty sends in the military thugs to take care of me. You may silence me, but there are others you cannot!"**

"**If it were up to me, you and your kind would be rotting in a dark cell on the other side of the moons, especially after you and your gang of arsonists attempted to kill the royal family in that bomb stunt of yours!" **A startled murmur spread throughout the citizens. They had head news of an attempted assassination, but they never thought to connect it to the man standing before them. Sensing he was losing support, the Martian attempted to deflect the accusation.

"**You have no proof I was connected to that! This is just a typical plot by the government to try and scapegoat those who have championed for the people's rights!"**

"**I have my suspicions. Too many factors point to you. You should be grateful that the law the royals have set up protect you and your spewing venomous rhetoric, so that I cannot act unless I have more concrete evidence. I can, however, have you removed for violating safety codes. You have attracted far to many people to this area. Not only is this a congested spot of traffic, but you are also too near a dangerous construction site. Either move your grandstanding to a more vacant spot, or I shall be forced to remove you."**

"**You can try!"** He pulled a whistle and suddenly, previously unnoticed, several Martians cloaked in scarlet masks and capes emerged from buildings and alleys, armed with laser pistols and swords.  
"A new day is at hand and our time has come! No longer will we hide in the shadows!" He announced in standard to make sure that the Earthlings understood exactly what their fate was.  
"Today we act and reclaim Mars from this oppressive regime! You and the Earth trash you congregate with shall either bow to us or fall under our sword!" At those words, all chaos broke lose. Most of the females with children did their best to pull them as far away from the area was fast as possible. A number of the younger teenagers in the crowd, drunk on the inspiring words of the rebel leader and the appearance of his fighters, joined in cheers and started rushing toward the guards and the Loonatics. They in turn were beaten off by older civilians who stood in their way, a testament of the previous generation who had seen the destruction of treason in the past and swore that they would die before allowing their Queen to come to any harm again.

The soldiers, shocked at the sudden eruption of violence between rival groups and the appearance of a sizable number of rebel soldiers, grabbed for weapons.

"Set your weapons to stun! I want no accidental deaths in this mob!" The Commander barked at the Centurions and other officers.

"Shoot to kill! Take no prisoners! Every guard slain is one less to bar us toward victory!" The rebel leader launched himself at the Commander, sword in hand. His glowing blade cracked and hissed as it clashed with the soldier's own sword.

"Slam,-we-gotta-do-something-about-all-these-rioters-and-FAST!" In a burst of flame, the roadrunner took off like a rocket and dashed around and through the city, pinpointing every rebel fighter in the area no matter where he was hiding. Quick as a flash, he stole every weapon they possessed before they could even blink and realize they had been disarmed. With a sizable number of arms in his hands, Rev ran off again toward the other side of town where they had been unpacking earlier that morning.

Spotting another Commander presiding over the food station full of customers, Rev made a beeline toward him and dumped the load of weapons at his feet.

"Here-you-go!-You-should-know-what-do-with-these-things-better-than-I-would.-I-just-took-these-off-some-Martian-rebels-who-are-  
causing-a-MAJOR-riot-on-the-other-side-of-the-city-and-considering-that-you-are-official-military-guards-you-might-want-to-get- yourselves-down-there-right-away-which-is-where-I'm heading-right-now-SEE-YA!" Rev took off again, knowing that after that warning, the Commander would send as many soldiers as he could spare to help quell he uprising. With that done, the roadrunner set about his next task: alerting the other Loonatics.

Even though he could have used his GPS to track down and locate Ace and the others, it would still mean navigating through the unfamiliar city to contact them. And at this point, even a few precious seconds wasted would mean more time for the riot to grow and spread uncontrollably. Which would mean more time for innocents to get hurt. It would be far faster for him to contact the others through the communicators so he could get back to the mess downtown.

"Ace,-are-you-there?-Come-on-come-on-pick-up!"

"Where's da fire, Rev?!"

"You're-not-going-to-believe-this-,Ace-but-all-of-downtown-has-gone-completely-INSANE!-We're-talking-out-of-control,-run-for-your-  
life-CHAOS!-The-whole-city-is-up-in-arms!-We-need-back-up-NOW!"

"Where is dis happenin'?!"

"The-center-of-the-city-near-the-big-unfinished-building-about-"

"Say, no more, Rev. I got it. I can see da place from here. You head back an' help as much as ya can as fast as ya can! Lexi and I'll be down dere as soon as we contact Duck."

"Roger-that-,Ace!" Rev shut off his communicator and continued to race back toward the action. Ace turned to Lexi.

"We got trouble, Lexi!"

"So I heard!"

"Get Duck on da phone and tell him to meet us here before we head over. Lexi opened up her communicator, waiting for the mallard to pick up on the other end. However, there was no answer.

"I can't reach him!" Ace nearly growled at Lexi's news.

"Where can dat duck be?!"

* * *

"So there I was! A hundred of the most ugly, disgusting looking beasts you ever could imagine, surrounding me at all sides. To my left and to my right. There was no escape! Their dripping fangs flashing, drooling at the thought of having a duck dinner. Their eyes glowing red in anticipation! My team had fought valiantly, but alas, they were sorely outmatched. I knew I was the only one left who stood between them and their goal of enslaving the entire planet. I located the leader, a big guy with eight, no, _twelve_ tentacles and a bushy black mane full of poisonous spikes!"

"What did you do?!" A small Martian toddler asked wide eyed and delightfully frightened at the engrossing tale, leaning forward from her seat in Tyrannus's lap. A chorus of little voices joined in, wondering eagerly what would happen next.

"Well, don't just keep us all in suspense." Tyrannus laughed encouragingly, not seeming to notice or care that he was easily the oldest out of the entire group and yet was just as anxious as the rest of them.

Duck puffed up proudly. He had begun telling the Martian prince all about the exploits of his ancestor, Duck Dodgers, which soon led to questions about Duck's own work with the Loonatics. Duck wasn't sure how it happened, but his stories had a attracted a number of others to sit down in a circle around him. Soon he had been surrounded by numerous ears who wanted nothing more than to hear of his adventures. Sure, all of them, save for Tyrannus, were equivalent to five year olds, but that didn't mean they weren't all incredibly intelligent and appreciative five year olds. Obviously, Mars was a place possessing great taste!

"Okay, okay. . .let's see. . .what did I do. . .Oh yes! Well, I went up to him, looked him dead in the eye and told him:'Listen buddy, this is my planet, and the people of Earth don't take kindly to alien overlords trying to take over the place! I suggest to surrender peacefully, otherwise I'll be forced to take drastic measures and send the whole lot of you packing back from where you crawled from!'  
"About half of the goons turned and ran when they heard my warning. The other half I could tell wanted nothing but trouble! So I quacked behind one and gave him a devastating kick to his head! Two others rushed me and I have them a series of karate chops. Hiyah!" Duck demonstrated as he quacked to a random spot and kicked and chopped at the empty air.  
"Then I unleashed a barrage of my power orbs which incinerated about thirty of them!" He allowed his hands to glow briefly, before tossing the orbs harmlessly into the dust.  
"The rest of them, seeing that they had no chance of victory, slithered as fast as they could back to their ships and took off, never to be seen again!" A number of cheers issued from the tykes, and even Tyrannus clapped politely as he got up from the floor.

"You truly have a way with children, Sir."

"Please, call me Duck."

"Okay. . .if you insist. That is your name, right?" The prince nearly winced at the name. Somehow it didn't sound right for a hero of the mallard's magnitude. It was too pedestrian.

"Well, truthfully it's Dumas Edgar Tiberious Aloysius. It's sort of a family tradition, but I don't really like to brag about it."

"So. . . Why do people just call you 'Duck'?"

"Well,. . . I don't know, really. I guess because it's short for Danger Duck. That is after all the superhero name I use when I'm on duty!"

"So why not call you 'Danger'?"

"Hmm, Danger. . .I never thought of that! It's edgy. . .dare I say it, it's _dangerous_. Danger. . .Danger. Yeah, I like it! Has a nice ring to it! I'm going to pass that along to the guys."

"It must be nice to have friends. . .who appreciate your talents. They are very lucky to have you."

* * *

"We can't wait any longa! We'll just hafta go on witout him." Ace pulled out his cube that contained his collapsible scooter, thankful that he had tucked it into his uniform the day before.  
"Hop on!" The pink rabbit grabbed Ace's waist as he revved the scooter and shot off toward the construction site.

"Rev wasn't kidding about this place!" Lexi looked on in horror as their friends and a handful of soldiers and Centurion robots were trying to fend off rebel attackers as well as try to pry away two warring sides of civilians.

Slam growled as he watched the bloody spectacle. To see brother against brother, father against son, friend against friend willing to fight each other to such an extreme was too much! Mustering up his strength, he started spinning with all his might, creating a tempest which he used to suction up the feuding factions. He whipped them around at a tremendous speed before dumping them several yards away, leaving them far too dizzy and sick to stand upright, let alone engage in combat.

Three of the crimson decked rebels headed toward the Centurions near the construction work, hacking and blasting them into useless scrap metal before they could defend themselves. Suddenly, a metal beam rammed into them, knocking the wind out of them and pinning them to a wall. The metal twisted itself around them, effectively trapping them. Tech dusted his hands, and looked on with disgust at the captives.

"What a waste of good building materials."

"We got some runners, Ace!" Lexi found a couple of masked Martians dropping their weapons at seeing such bizarre creatures exhibiting such unnatural powers. They were not trained professionally as the military were and as such were easily spooked by the unfamiliar and supernatural abilities. Lexi aimed her brainblast at one rebel who shot past her, hitting him in the back and causing him to fall face down unconscious.

"I'm on it!" Ace in turn, aimed his laser vision squarely at some other fleeing fighters, taking out several more.

The violence was nearly contained, only several more braver souls remained to try their luck in subduing the superpowered Earthlings.

Under the metallic skeleton, one more battle was taking place. The rebel who had instigated the entire episode was fighting desperately with the Commander, losing ground with each stroke against the more experienced warrior.

"It's over, boy. Your rabble has either run off or has been defeated. Surrender while you still breathe, and I'll make sure the council gives you a fair hearing."

"I'd rather die!" The young man snarled stubbornly.

"As much as I'd love to grant you your wish, it is not my place to decide your fate. My orders are to bring you in alive."

"That just goes to prove just how foolish your leaders are, as I've been saying for so long!" A shorter blade of a knife slipped out of his sleeve into his hand. The younger Martian suddenly shortened the distance between him and his opponent, coming eye to eye. The Commander's eyes widened in horror and pain as the blade slipped in under his guard and impaled him in his stomach. His grip loosed on his sword and it clattered to the ground. The other Martian smirked in satisfaction and pressed his face next to the slightly taller man's, holding him tight in a twisted embrace.  
"Don't worry about your precious rulers." He whispered one last taunt. "I'll be sure to send them to you. Give my regards to Pluto when you see him." With one last twist, he wrenched the dagger out of the Martian's flesh and ran off, slipping away silently into an alley out of sight.

* * *

"Last ones!" Tech levitated some scrap metal around five smaller struggling Martians that Slam was holding in his large powerful grip. After effectively inhibiting their movement with the makeshift restraints, the coyote looked around to see if he overlooked any more strays.  
"We miss any?"

"A couple of dem ran off. If whoever's leading dem was one of dem, den we might have some more trouble." Ace said.

"More than you know. Guys. . ." Lexi pointed toward the scaffolding where a number of Martians, civilians and soldiers were gathering around. The Loonatics ran toward the circle to see the Commander lying limply among the debris, his fellow officers wrapping him in his red uniform cape. The bright material was quickly staining a darker shade as the soldiers did their best to try and keep him awake.

"Just hang on. We're getting you help." The Commander said nothing, but his gaze glassed over as his eyes slowly started rolling toward the back of his head.

"He needs medical help! Now!" An officer turned to his comrade in ranks. "Call the nearest hospital and tell them we're evaporating there with a man with a critical wound!"

"Teleportation?! In his condition?! He could go into shock!"

"Well, he won't live long enough to see the insides of their walls if we wait for a ground transport!" The officer pulled out a communicator and made the call, and within a few seconds a number of them beamed out of sight. The rest of the soldiers, remained to tend to any other people who were injured in the uprising.

Some of the civilians who had been watching the entire scene play out, talked amongst themselves nervously, some praying for the health of the man in uniform.

"You think he'll be okay?" Lexi asked aloud, hoping for some kind of reassurance though she did not expect some. In all her time as a crime fighter, she had never had the misfortune of seeing some of uglier sides of people. She never had to experience the death of anyone, friend, foe, or acquaintance. Neither had any of the others.

"I hope so." Ace said numbly.

"I saw the creep!" A Martian in brown robes, sporting a black eye and a red beard interrupted the Earthlings' brooding. From the way he was swaying and holding his bruised arm, he was probably one of the fighters Slam had taken down earlier, still suffering from vertigo.  
"He was fighting the Commander and then ran off. I would have gone after him myself, but I-" The man nearly buckled under his own weight. But managed to stay on his feet, however unsteadily.

"You okay Doc?! Ya want us ta take ya in for help?"

"I'll be alright once the ground stops spinning."

"Did you see where he went?" Tech questioned the man.

"He was heading north, last I saw. That way." He pointed into the direction he last saw the rebel leader disappear. Before they could take off, the man grabbed Ace's arm.  
"You'll make sure to give to him exactly what he did the Commander, right?" Ace nearly yanked back his arm back in revulsion for the excited glint of bloodlust still apparent in the Martian's eyes, even after all the pandemonium that occurred.

"We'll do what we hafta. Come on, Loonatics!"

* * *

I wasn't planning a lot of the stuff in this chapter initially (like the whole marauders scene), but I've been feeling inspired lately.

For those of you who aren't nearly as immersed in Looney Tunes trivia as I am, here is the origins of Danger Duck's 'true' name  
Dumas was the middle name Daffy possessed in "The Scarlet Pumpernickel" and later reemerged in the Duck Dodgers series.  
Edgar and Aloysius were additional middle names given to Daffy in the Duck Dodgers series.Tiberius was Baby Daffy's middle name in Baby Looney Tunes.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 9**

Ace and the others took off to where they were told the assailant had fled to, but there appeared to be no trace of anyone there. Ace figured that the attacker must have managed to get himself lost in the traffic of the population.

"Can ya get a trace on him, Rev?" The roadrunner frowned in regret at the request. He wasn't sure he'd be able to, since he had no way of telling who was responsible for the attack in all the confusion. It could have easily have been any Martian who was involved in the riot.

"Hey,-tracking-down-a-person-is-not-as-easy-as-it-looks,-you-have-to-first-find-and-memorize-a-biological-signature-and-I-have-no-idea-which-specifically-of-those-guys-it-was-But-I-can-see-a-number-of-those-marauder-Martians- running-and-heading-north.-They-look-like-they're-all-heading-to-the-same-place."

"Well, dat's someting at least. Okay, keep an eye on dem and we'll wait and see where dere're headin'. Maybe da guy we want will be wit dem. Come on!" While Ace, Lexi rode their scooter and Rev took off to the air, they seemed to have forgotten that two of their teammates were grounded. Tech growled in annoyance.

"We're going to need a ride, Slam." The Tasmanian grunted in agreement and looked around until he spied a upcoming car with a sign flashing on it. He held out his great meaty paw to stop it, inadvertently causing it to crash into his arm. The Martian driving swayed dizzily in his seat as Tech apologetically addressed him.

"Uh. . .sorry about that. Listen, we have some important business to take care of, and we're in a bit of a rush. Mind giving us a lift?" The man was just about to tell the coyote to shove off until he saw the enormous beast behind him, fangs flashing dangerously in a threatening smirk. The Martian paled significantly.

"S-s-s-sure, get in! I'd be glad to take you where you need to go!"

"Thanks a lot. You see, Slam? People are very accommodating if you just ask nicely." The Tasmanian just smiled as he climbed in after Tech.

* * *

He was being tracked. He could feel it! Everywhere he turned he could feel the unseen presence of someone or something following him and he couldn't shake it. As soon as he could, he had ducked into a crowed clothing store, praying they would lose him. It seemed to work, as he spied at three of those wretched Earthlings race by a window. He sighed in relief at his temporary respite, but decided that it wasn't worth taking any chances. He needed to disappear. 

Pulling out some spare dollars, he abandoned his garb for some new cheap clothing in case anyone else was on his tail. Drawing his jacket as tightly around him as possible and pulling his cap over his eyes, he slowed his pace and managed to slip out of the store and into the crowd, blending in almost seamlessly.

He needed to leave the city as quickly as possible with the few followers he had left. The checking point toward the other side of the city came to mind. He had told his men that if in an emergency, they were all to rendezvous at the assigned location and from there evacuate to the nearest exit. He hadn't plan on using it this day, but he was grateful now that he had thought ahead.

He snarled to himself just thinking about the day. He had planned it out so well! His men were trained and were eager to take on the military. This was to be the day when they finally took the first step toward ridding Mars of its rulers and established a new figurehead at the helm. If only those blasted Earth creatures had not interfered! Now half his men were captured or were fleeing for their lives. He would have to work harder than ever to reclaim their numbers. Those foreigners would pay dearly for ruining his plans! They would share the same fate as the monarchs they were so eager to defend!

* * *

"Dere you guys are! We've been looking everywhere fer yas! Where you've been?!" Ace had spotted Duck and Tyrannus in the shade of a building, chatting lightheartedly. All this time when Ace and the others had busy trying to keep the town from killing itself and here was the duck relaxing?! 

The mallard was more than puzzled at the rabbit's surliness.

"Settle down. We were just making small talk. No need to freak out!"

"Why didn't you have your communicator on?!" Ace demanded.

"I didn't realize we were on patrol down here!" The mallard crossed his arms defensively. "Why didn't you mention anything earlier? I was under the impression we were done for the day!"

"Half the city's is in a panic and you didn't even notice?!" Lexi joined in the berating. Duck quirked an eye in skepticism at Lexi's accusation. Things were as calm as could be from where he was. Actually, it was getting a bit boring.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but-"

"We'll talk about dis later, Duck!" Ace snapped, cutting him off. "Right now, I need you to help us track some fugitives!"

A smashed up yellow cab stopped in front of them suddenly, opening up to let out its passengers.

"You could have waited up for us. We nearly lost you back there twice!" Tech told Ace. The rabbit smirked in apology.

"Eh sorry 'bout dat."

"How much we owe you?" Tech asked the cabby, pulling out his wallet, though the Martian shook his head.

"No charge! On the house!" The Martian took one last look at the Tazmanian and then took off as if the devil was after him.

"Ace-I-just-found-a-number-of–those-Martians-heading-toward-an-abandoned-warehouse-about-three-blocks-from-here!" Rev reported from behind him.

"Seems like a strange place ta be havin' friends ova. Let's see if dey'll be willin' ta have a few more uninvited guests dere." Five of the Loonatics took off running, Rev leading the way. None of them noticed the sixth member lagging behind them, standing to the side by himself.

"I don't get it! I didn't even _do_ anything and they're just mad at me for nothing?!" Duck kicked furiously at an abandoned aluminum can and sent it flying across the street."Ugh, why don't they ever listen to me?!"

Tyrannus walked over to the duck, his head bowed in sympathy.

"They don't seem to value your input much, do they?" The youngster watched the others go off, rather troubled and curious that they would just leave their friend behind.

"They don't appreciate me, that's the problem! And after all I've done for them!"

"Why not? Don't they consider you important to their cause?" Duck turned to face the young Martian.

"What are you getting at?" His voice was laced with suspicion.

"Well, you heard how that rabbit just shut you up without hearing your say on the matter."

"Ace just thinks that because he's the leader, that he gets to decide everything." The mallard sulked. Tyrannus acceded the point.

"Well, I guess if he's the leader. . .but why did the other one push you around? She should be more courteous than that. Especially since you saved her and the others' lives so many times." Duck averted his eyes. He had forgotten how he had regaled the kid with all his tales of heroism and stories about how his entire team worshiped the ground he tread on.

"Well, actually, now that I think about it, Lexi is the second in command. . .I guess that would make her next in line." He muttered sheepishly. The young Martian, however, didn't seem too convinced by that explanation.

"From your description, she doesn't sound that particularly gifted. I would think the coyote would be a more suitable candidate, since he is one of the smartest members out of your team, you said."

"I guess, Lexi has _some _skills. Not as much as mine of course, but some. And Tech may make a lot of gadgets, but that doesn't make him the smartest."

"As far as I can tell, you are obviously the most talented and the bravest of them all. And you said yourself that you seem to be the only other one who's even expressed the interest in becoming a leader as well. That should count for something, right? Perhaps it's time to make a proposal." Duck smirked at his little fan's confidence in him. When Duck thought about it, he probably could do just that. He did have some experience in the field and even managed to lead the team to victory on one such occasion.

"Yeah, you know something? You're right! Why should Ace have all the glory?! I can be just a good a leader as him!"

"I'll join you, and after we finish the job, you will speak with him. I'm sure he'll listen to your rational." The Martian smiled in pride. His new friend and hero would be sure to get the recognition he so obviously and righteously deserved. How could they say no?

* * *

He was nearly there. Freedom and safety was within his grasp. The Martian turned a corner, only to spy the Earth creatures who had somehow stumbled over his hideout before him. No doubt they had tracked down one of his recruits who was idiotic enough to allow himself to be followed. 

He had only his small blade on his person, having abandoned his larger weapons since they were too conspicuous. He wouldn't stand a prayer fighting all of the superpowered animals on his own. He just hoped that the cowards who had ran off earlier would put up a stand here against the interlopers, distracting them long enough until he could find another way to exit the city.

He kept silent standing in the shadow of a building, out of their line of sight. Once they had gone in, he slowly stepped out, but quickly ducked back into the darkness behind some trash cans. He had missed one. But it was not the duck that held his attention. It was his little companion which truly caught his interest.

He would have had to have been living in a cave on another planet not to recognize the young prince when he saw him. Just one of the many people he had on his list to dispose of. His hand automatically drifted to the laser pistol he had concealed in his belt. It would be oh so easy. One swift move and he'd have one less item to deal with.

He stopped himself. Perhaps he could use this boy for his advantage. It might be that the prince could be of more use to him alive, at least for the time being. The royalty certainly wouldn't lay a finger on him so long as he had a valuable hostage. Enough time to strengthen his own forces before he disposed of the brat. He continued to observe the boy and duck from his spot, careful not to draw attention to himself until he spied an opportunity to make his move.

* * *

"What do you think is in there?" The young Martian prince asked curiously and expectantly toward Duck. 

"Who knows? It's probably nothing, but just leave everything to me. I am a trained action hero after all. You just sit back and. . .uh take notes or something." Duck prepared to step in, but stopped short as a half-pint blur stepped in front of him blocking his way.

"Not that I don't doubt your capabilities as a warrior, but there must be something I can do to help!" Tyrannus begged eagerly."I have not spent so much time in the armed forces just to stand by idly. And I know that I can learn much more from a seasoned and experienced champion like yourself!" Duck scratched his head, thinking.

"Uh. . .how about you just stand out here and. . .stand guard! Ya know. . .watch my back and make sure nothing in there comes out that isn't supposed to!" The Martian grinned and saluted just as he did his superior commanding officers .

"Yes, sir!" Tyrannus waited outside and watched as Duck trotted into the warehouse. The duck joined in just in time as Ace was addressing a number of red masked Martians. They didn't seem to notice the intrusion until it was too late.

"Eh, sorry ta boist in on ya like dis guys, but we saw ya comin' and were just dyin' ta get ta know ya better." Ace smirked at the startled group of thugs, as they whirled around in surprise at the intruders.

"Yeah, especially the guy who likes to play with knives here. We want to have a little chat with him." Lexi joined in.

"Now, we all know what happened last time we met. So we can do dis da easy way or da hard way. It doesn't matta too much ta us, doh da hard way is usually a lot more fun." Ace gave the group one last chance to surrender peacefully. The Loonatics didn't really expect them to, since their opponents never did, however to their shock and amazement, the whole lot of them raised their hands into the air.

Duck stared at the men and crossed his arms in satisfaction.

"Well, what do you know. Looks like they chose the easy way for once." As soon as he spoke, the Martian's arms still in the air, allowed laser daggers to shoot up from their sleeves into both their hands before assuming a fighting stance.

"Of course I could be wrong!"

"You may have taken us by surprise before, but we shall not run from you this time. We are prepared for you now!" One of the Martians stepped up, waving his blade threateningly. Ace wasn't impressed by the display.

"Okay, have it your way." Ace shrugged before signaling the team to attack.

It turned out that the marauders were all flash and no substance. They may have talked big, but compared to the highly disciplined military forces, they were strictly amateurs, better suited for fighting and taking advantage during situations of mass chaos than one on one with more experienced fighters. On top of it all, their numbers had been severely diminished since the last time, allowing the Loonatics to take on several with relative ease.

Ace smirked as another fighter launched clumsily at him, slashing wildly. The rabbit easily evaded all his thrusts and quickly disarmed him with a quick kick to the jaw.

"Honest, guys, you aw makin' dis too easy." He didn't even turn around to send a crippling punch to the Martian he knew was trying to sneak up behind him.

"HA! Missed me! Ah, too slow! Almost! Not quite!" Duck continued to quack from on random place to another, laughing as the fighters attempted to strike a blow with their weapons, but sliding to a halt when their target was no longer there.

"Come on you guys! How hard is it for you to hit a duck?! I would think you Martians lived for this kind of thing!" The mallard continued to egg them on, reveling in their snarls of frustration. He launched several tar orbs at them, glueing them together in an escapable sticky black mess. He was almost sorry to leave Tyrannus outside where he couldn't see him in action. Oh well, he'd give him all the exciting details later.

* * *

Outside the building, Tyrannus paced outside the only entrance way, perfectly mimicking an overzealous security guard. 

"Let's see. . .what did they say in basic training. . .?" He spoke aloud to himself, willing himself to remember his lessons.

"Be alert at all times. Never let your guard down. . .Um. . .Watch all directions. . What else?. . .Be observant of your surroundings and always expect the unexpected. . ." The boy collapsed to the ground with a loud 'thud', never noticing the heavy metal trash lid that had slammed into the back of his head, or the person wielding it.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be." The marauders' leader poked with his shoe the unconscious princeling at his feet. With emotionless precision, he covered the body with his hat and outer jacket, effectively covering the boy's face and uniform, rendering him virtually unrecognizable to a casual observer.

He swung one of the boy's nonresilient arms around his neck to drag him off, making his way toward the crowd casually.

"Hey. . .are you two okay?" Some of the curious onlookers asked as he dragged along his limp hostage. He shrugged and laughed off their concern.

"Oh don't worry about him. My poor friend was just out late last night and is only just now returning home. A result of a little too much partying is all. You know how youngsters are. I just wish I knew where he parked the car." The people nodded and accepted the excuse as good as any other.

"Still, would you like for us to call you two a cab?"

"That would be very helpful. Thank you." Within a few minutes, a rusty yellow hover cab with a seriously dented hood was called to meet them. He shoved the prince into the backseat before making his way to the front. The cabby glanced at his rearview mirror before turning to his only conscious passenger.

"Is your friend going to be alright? He doesn't look too well."

"Don't worry about him" The other stated emotionlessly. "Just take us out of this town. Head toward Imperial City." The driver quirked an eyebrow at the unusual request.

"A little out of the way don't you think? You sure you don't want to check into a hospital first. He looks a little-"

"He'll be fine!" He snarled, getting more anxious to put this city behind him as soon as possible.

"Suit yourself." The driver shifted gears and headed toward the nearest exit. As they made their way to the checking point, they found themselves waiting in line as the centurions made inspections. The cabby took a sip from his coffee cup, unconcerned at the standard procedure though unaware that the passenger next to him had paled slightly in apprehension.

The robotic guards however were more lax than flesh and blood officials in checking the passengers of taxis than in private vehicles. The droids checked the trunk, underneath the car and asked a few questions of the driver. They only passed a cursory glance at the covered and prone figure in the back and then waved them off. The marauder released a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he had been holding.

They were about a mile or two out of the city limits before he barked at the driver.

"STOP THE CAR!" The cabby slammed on the breaks as the vehicle jerked to a sudden halt.

"What's the-Hey!" The driver found his passenger forcing himself to his side of the vehicle and savagely threw him out of the door into arid desert. The other Martian's foot hit the accelerator and the car took off in a flash, abandoning the dazed and confused cab driver lying on the ground, choking on cloud of sand and dust.

* * *

In less than ten minutes, Lexi was hauling the last unconscious Martian and dumping his form among his other defeated comrades. Rev had quickly darted among every fighter, robbing them of their weapons and quickly checking each one over to make sure they weren't carrying any other covert arms. Searching the warehouse carefully, Tech spotted some spare pipes and metal rods, skillfully bent and manipulated them until they effectively chained the Martians together in an inescapable bind. 

Ace approached the haggard group.

"Okay, now are ya willin' ta talk? We have reason ta believe dat one of yas was involved in an attack on one of da guads eoilier taday. Confess now, and we'll go easy on da rest of ya before we hand ya ova to da law enfawcas." He knelt down so he was eye to eye with one of the marauders who was glaring murderous daggers at him.

"How 'bout you, Doc? Ya have anyting ta say?" The Martian's eyes narrowed for a split second before he spat in defiance on the rabbit.

"Your words do not scare me, filthy little Earthling! Your kind are too weak to attempt anything other than scare tactics! You do not have that guts to do anything substantial!"

"But we might." The Loonatics turned around to see Marvella and several other commanding officers, their weapons drawn."They may not be willing to lower themselves to certain methods of interrogation, but you know as well as I that we are not bound by their same code of ethics." The head Commander who had spoken stepped toward the bound prisoners, the princess and several soldiers right behind them.

"Ya could 'ave come eoilier an' saved us a lot of trouble, ya know." Ace frowned at the late arrivals. Marvella ignored his disapproval as she surveyed the Loonatics' handiwork.

"You seemed to have taken care of the situation well enough." Marvella stated simply, if not a little condescendingly.

"How'd you find us anyway?" Lexi wondered aloud. The team had let no one else know about what they were up to and they had no prior knowledge of where they were heading. If the military was able to track them down, why didn't they step in earlier instead of leaving them alone to fend of the insurgents?

"I'd have to deaf not to hear the awful din you six were causing here." The princess answered. "I was already in the area and I went to alert the Commanders and troops nearby that something was amiss and to keep any curious onlookers safely away, but I never suspected that you were taking down a group of guerrillas." Well, at least she was gracious enough to acknowledge their efforts this time around. Ace smiled.

"You're welcome, princess. All in a-"

"I don't recall ever expressing gratitude." She cut off the rabbit's speech mid sentence, not bothering to disguise the disdain she still felt for them. "This is a matter of Martian business, with no need for interference from outsiders. You may step aside, now. The military will take over things from this point on." She turned to the head Commanders and nodded, giving a silent signal for him to take over again.

"As for you insurrectionists, if all of you want to keep your limbs intact, you will tell me who it was who attempted to kill our officer." The huge man was intimidating for many of the more slender and less heavily muscled fighters, however they remained stubbornly silent.

"We don't know." One of the marauders in the front finally spoke, his eyes never leaving the floor. The Commander raised an eye brow in skepticism.

"_That_, I find incredibly difficult to believe." The other soldiers cocked their weapons and a loud hum issued from the laser guns as they warmed up in preparation to fire. Ace and the others looked on in repulsion that the soldiers seemed poised to shoot the others right then and there as they sat bound and defenseless. The other Martians apparently thought the same.

"Honestly, we don't! It-it was too chaotic at the time. It could have been anyone! Maybe even one of the civilians who joined our side!" The Commander raised a hand to signal the soldiers to lower their weapons, at least for the moment.

"Well, I can't take any action against a civilian I have no proof of. But I still have you and we all _know_ that you were involved in the riot earlier on. And since you are so unsure which amongst yourselves is the culprit, I guess we'll have to do away with all of you." The prisoners eyes doubled in size with horror and protest. One of the weaker ones finally caved in.

"I know who it was!"

"I thought you said none of you knew?!" The Commander whipped his gaze to the other Martian who had been so staunch in defending themselves.

"He doesn't know! He's lying!" The marauder insisted on discrediting his teammate, though the Commander would hear no more.

"Quiet!" He had enough of the criminal's lying. He turned his attentions toward the other who had spoken out."Who was it?!" The other Martian winced at the cutting tone and quickly told everything he knew.

"It was Cassius! He is our leader! I saw him first attack one of the head Commanders. He was still fighting him after I fled. But he is not among us, as you can see. Is he the one whom you speak of?"

"You traitor!"

"You don't know the meaning of the word. Take them all in. The council will decide what to do with these rebels later." The officers made toward the outlaws, cuffing them and leading them out of the building for transport.

* * *

"Well, all things considered, our part of community service came out better than expected." Tech smirked toothily as they stepped into the blinding sunlight. 

"You've got to be kidding!" Lexi looked absolutely dumbstruck at the coyote. How on Earth could he have ever thought that everything they went through was a positive experience?

"No, I'm serious. Think about it. Not only did we do our part this morning, but we managed to help the military stop a coup and capture some of their most wanted criminals. If this doesn't prove to the Martians that Earth is trustworthy, I don't know what will."

"Well, . . .that's one way of looking at it." Duck muttered sarcastically as he stretched his arms. At least it was over. He looked around to see where his number one fan could be hiding."Where's Ty by the way. I can't wait to tell him all the action and excitement he missed out watching me perform. That kid can't get enough about hearing about my life and all my adventures." He preened himself proudly in anticipation for what he expected would be a good hour or so of attention from the youngster.

"There's a three second story if I ever heard one." Lexi scoffed teasingly, earning a sour look from the mallard.

"He's gotta be around here somewhere." Ace reassured Duck, though personally the rabbit wouldn't have blamed the kid for ditching the duck the minute an opportunity presented itself. There was only so much time hearing Duck talk about himself anyone could be expected to endure.

Duck quacked out of sight to make a quick survey of the area. The Martian boy wasn't around the building or in any of the alleys. The mallard quickly checked the streets and some of the nearby stores in case the prince might have wandered there. Duck even made his way to the roofs to get a better view from higher ground. He couldn't spot a trace of the kid anywhere. Annoyed, Duck quacked back down to the ground where the others were.

"I can't find him anywhere! And after I gave him specific instructions to stand guard, he abandons his post!"

"Gee, I wonder why." Lexi rolled her eyes, as though sharing Ace's previous thoughts. Duck ignored the rabbit and spotted the officers as they were leading the last of the outlaws away, while the princess and the leading Commander looked on supervising.

"Hey,. . .uh. . .you there. You see your little brother around here anywhere?" Marvella turned to glance at the short little duck and sniffed haughtily.

"What do I look like? His keeper? I haven't seen hide nor hair of him since he took off to spend the day with you." The Commander next to her appeared a bit more concerned.

"You mean he isn't with you? I can't see where he could have run off to."

"It wouldn't be the first time." Marvella commented, not the least bit worried. "I'm sure he'll show himself before we have to return home. . .as usual." With that she turned back to her work, leaving Duck staring at the back of her head. Feeling the mallard's eyes burning into her, she sighed in vexation and finally addressed her Commander.

"Go with him and see if you can locate my wayward brother. And if Tyrannus is anything short of lying dead in a gutter somewhere, tell him he's going to wish he had when I'm through with him for causing us all this much grief!"

"As you wish." The soldier stalked off with Duck next to him. The Commander took one look at the Loonatics and snapped his fingers with authority."You two! Rabbits!" He pointed at Lexi and Ace with the same tone he reserved for soldiers under his command and authorization. "Comb this building and the nearby surrounding areas. Coyote, you and the bird head west toward the market. Interrogate the locals to see if they have seen the lad. Duck and. . .whatever you are," he gestured toward Slam, "you will accompany me on the east side. Move out!" The Loonatics looked at each other skeptically at being ordered around by someone who wasn't Zadavia, but decided to let it go just this once.

"Sheesh, exactly when did the royalty die and make him King of Mars?" Lexi grumbled under her breath, earning a snicker from Ace as they headed back into the building to see if they missed anything.

* * *

The marketplace was a buzz of activity as Tech and Rev had to muscle their way through some of the more congested areas. Tech turned to one of the nearby citizens and began asking around. 

"Excuse me, have you seen a- Pardon me have you seen-We're looking for a kid about-" It seemed no one around was interested in hearing out what the coyote had to say as they hurried off to their own business. Tech sighed in frustration before he spotted the bread line where the Loonatics had been delivering supplies earlier on. They weren't moving very fast, so Tech was sure he could catch at least a few of the citizens without them running off. He made his way toward the middle, Rev right behind him, and the two began asking around the customers. None of them seemed to have seen the prince anywhere.

Tech tapped on the shoulder of what had to be the tenth person he questioned. The Martian ignored him and shifted anxiously on the line leaning in to see how many people were in front of him. Tech continued undiscouraged.

"Excuse me, sir. We're looking for a kid."

"There's a lot of kids in this city. Try being a little more specific." The Martian answered nastily, glaring at his watch.

"Well-he's-a-short-little-guy-about-three-feet-tall-with-a-round-head,-large-feet,-two-big-blue-eyes,-white-hair-and-"

"We're looking for the son of the King and Queen of Mars." Tech interrupted Rev. "Have you seen him around anywhere?"

"The prince? No, I haven't seen him around. That boy would be pretty hard to miss, considering his prestige."

"Well could you keep an eye out for him and let us know if you find him?" Tech pleaded with the man as he finally got to the front. The Martian accepted his cup of milk and a roll and got off the line.

"Look, as much as I feel for the royal family losing one of their own, I can't take off to search for anyone. I have work to get back to. But I doubt he'll stay lost for long. He can't exactly hide in a place like this, not with his status." He took a sip from his cup as he walked down the sidewalk.

"This is getting us nowhere fast!" Tech growled in frustration. "Forget what the Commander said! Rev, see if you can track the kid down?" Tech told the roadrunner. Rev nodded as he actually did have a chance to memorize the prince's biological signature the previous night. It would be simple to pinpoint him with his GPS if he was nearby.

Switching into his short range tracking mode, Rev scanned the area, but found no trace of the particular Martian. He quickly enhanced his scanner to stretch farther down, straining to sense a trace of the kid for a mile around. There was no indication of him anywhere in the entire city.

"He's-gone." Rev announced unhappily to Tech.

"What do you mean 'he's gone'?"

"I-mean-he's-gone,-vacated-town,-exited-stage-right.-There's-not-a-trace-of-him-in-the-entire-city."

"That's impossible. No one save you could have gotten out of the city in such a short amount of time on foot.

"Well,-this-is-just-suggestion-though-I-know-you-have–had-some-trouble-with-my-suggestions-in-the-past-but-I'll-just-say-it-anyway-since-I-think-it-is-a-pretty-good-theory-that-maybe-just-maybe-he-didn't-leave-on-foot."

"Fine, if you're so smart, why don't you extend your GPS _past_ the city? Try to scan as far as you can." Rev's eyes glowed red as he switched into long range scanning. He started slowly, checking first to see if there was anything around within a 100 mile radius. Outside the city, it was mostly barren wasteland and he couldn't even sense that many animals, oddly enough. However, his GPS did pick up the signatures of three Martian life forms. One of them slowly heading toward them. Two others speeding away, one of the signatures Rev instantly recognized.

"I-got-him!-He's-about-fifty-point-six-kilometers-outside-the-city,-heading-north."

"I'll call the others to let them know we've found him. You go ahead and bring him back."

"No-problem-I-can-zip-over-there-in-no-time,-though-well-technically-not-'no-time'-since-any-time-is-some-time-and-no-time-is-a-non-existent-concept-unless-you-are-traveling-at-precisely-the-speed-of-light,-and-though-I-am-pretty-fast,-extraordinarily-fast-actually,-even-I-am-not-_that_-fast,-so-when-I-say-'no-time-at-all-"-I-really-mean-that-I-can-get-over-there-in-a-really-really-short-amount-of-time-that-might-be-considered-hardly-any-time-"

"Just go, will you?!" In a blaze of fire, the roadrunner flew off toward the outer gates. Tech watched Rev speed off as he opened up his communicator to the others.

"Ace?"

"Yeah?" The rabbit's voice from the other end answered in his ear.

"You can call off the search party. We found him. Rev just took off to fetch him." Ace switched his communicator into a split channel so Slam and hopefully Duck would be able to hear the conversation as well.

"Good thinkin', Tech. Tell us where ya are an' we'll all meet ya dere." Tech gave the rabbit his location, and in a few minutes the rest of the team was reunited. The coyote blinked in surprise as the Commander, Duck, and Slam headed toward them with an extra party member.

"Sorry, but she _insisted_ on joining us when we relayed the news." Duck pointed irritably back at the Martian princess.

"So where has he been all this time?" Marvella interrogated the coyote.

"Rev tracked him leaving the city, over fifty kilometers from here."

"Really?" Tech was half expecting the princess to pitch a fit, but she seemed more subdued at the news, as though slowly digesting and relishing it.

"Don't worry, Rev should be back momentarily." As if on cue, Rev flew up behind Tech, cradling a short breathing bundle.

"I'm not the one who should be worrying at this point." Marvella glared at the figure above her as the roadrunner landed. However, her irritation was short lived when she got a closer look. Caked in dust and bleeding slightly was a Martian who was not her kin."Who is this?" Marvella glanced over the Martian. The man coughed as he rolled onto the floor out of the roadrunner's grip.

"Hey, I know this guy. He's the cab driver who brought Slam and me here. Where'd you say you found him again, Rev?"

"I-found-him-wandering-through-the-desert-when-I-went-to-search-for-Tyrannus-and-I-couldn't-just-leave-him-there-so-I-brought-him-back-into-town.-But–then-he-told-me-to-find-some-officers-because-apparently-his-car-was-jacked-and-I-sensed-that-the-princess-and-the-Commander-was-here-with-you-so-I-brought-him-here-and-now-he-is-here-but-you-already-know-that-much-" The Martian on the ground seemed dazed for a moment as a result of traveling as such a high speed, but once he steadied himself, everything that happened came rushing back and he flew into a panic.

"MY CAB! I'VE BEEN ROBBED! **TROYCHA NITCHA ANGUIS IN HERBA!**" The cabby caused enough of a commotion to earn several glances from passing people, though he paid them little concern as he continued his rant. He saw the Commander and rushed to him, tugging frantically at his crimson uniform cape.

"You there! You must help! You're the bloody law enforcement! Do something!"

"Calm down, sir! We-"

"Calm down?!" The civilian shrieked. "Someone just drove off with my livelihood! And you tell me to calm down?!"

"Well, tell me exactly what happened. What were you doing out there in the first place?"

"I was just minding my own business. I had some customers who wanted to be escorted out of town. Next thing I know the dog orders me to stop and just flings me out of my door, driving off!"

"Did you get a good look at them? Do you know who it was?" The Commander continued his interrogation, ignoring the mounting aggravation of the hysterical Martian.

"Heck if I know! I'm not paid to memorize every single person who gets in my cab! It was some red haired man and his drunken friend. Now are you just going to stand there or are you going to do something?!"

"Well, that narrows it down to only a few thousand candidates." The frustrated Commander remarked sarcastically. It was going to be arduous to do anything to remedy the situation if the man wasn't able to divulge more details than that.

Tech rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Too many odd events happening within such a short amount of time. The escape of the gang leader, Tyrannus's disappearance, and now this? A suspicious idea came to him, but he wanted to make sure of his facts. He turned to Rev.

"Rev, when you were scanning the outside perimeters, did you happen to detect any vehicles?

"Only-one,-Tech."

"And how many people exactly did you detect in all outside the city walls?"

"Three-in-all.-This-fellow-right-here,-Tyrannus-and-some-other-Martian."

"Are ya absolutely soiten, Rev?" Ace joined in, starting to think along the same path the coyote was.

"Absolutely,-my-GPS-is-never-wrong-I-can-assure-you.-There-were-only-those-three,-well-two-now-that-this-guy's-here,-and-right-now–the-remaining-two-of-them-are-speeding-north." Ace shook his head in dread.

"I have a bad feelin' 'bout dis. I just hope I'm wrong wit what I'm tinkin'" The rabbit turned to face the Commander. "Do you guys have a spare speeder we can borrow?"

"I'll see if the forces can spare some hover cars." The Commander headed toward the post to see about accommodating a vehicle.

"Whatever you're planning, if you plan to leave the city, I'll have to have you escorted."Marvella addressed the rabbit, with all her authority. "There is no way I can allow you to run off loose on the planet on your own unsupervised!"

"Fine! Whateva!" Ace threw up his hands at the princesses incessant demands, knowing that this wasn't a time to argue. "Do what ya want, but just hurry it up! If I'm right, we may not have much time ta chat!"

* * *

Cassius's foot continued to press the accelerator as far as it would go, the speedometer steadily climbing dangerously high. He would continue to drive as far as he could away from civilization, stow away in one of his hidden sanctuaries until he contacted the royals to let them know just who had stolen their son. 

After traveling for several miles, he slowed the vehicle to coast at a much safer and steady speed of around 200 mph. He glanced at the rearview mirror, checking in on his charge. Just as still and silent as he had left him. A low groan caught his attentions back as the prince began to stir. Cassius slammed down on the breaks bringing the car to a swift halt and sending the boy's head slamming into the thick glass pane separating them.

Smirking for his temporary victory, the older Martian stepped out of the car. He opened the back to where the unconscious teenager lay crumpled on the floor. For a moment he wondered if he might have killed the boy when he had stopped. No such luck, though there was an impressive gash along his forehead, leading him to briefly wonder if thick skulls ran in his family. Just in case the boy might once again wake, he lugged the light body out and dropped it carelessly into the trunk. At least there he couldn't cause any more trouble.

He couldn't stay in this area for long. Sooner or later the cab owner would eventually make it back to the city and alert someone about his stolen vehicle. He would just have to keep going as long as he could before he abandoned it.

Cassius glanced at his rearview mirror at the landscape behind him. Across the barren desert, a storm cloud appeared to be brewing. A large mass of sand and dust raced along the terrain at an alarming rate. Just before it, a red blur flew ahead, fire jetting from wings like a rocket.

Rev continued to fly ahead of the others, leaving nothing but a blazing path of flame and sand that gusted up behind him.

The roadrunner focused intently on his target, which was moving fast, but not so much that he couldn't catch up with it easily. As Rev closed in, he gritted his teeth as he noticed that his target was not in any of the seats of the vehicle, but was lying unmoving in the back trunk.

He flew far out in front of the vehicle and stopped, holding his hand out to halt the car. He balked in realization that the car wasn't even attempting to slow down or even swerve out of the way. On the contrary, it was speeding up with the intent of running him over! Rev darted out of the way, growling to himself as the car sped off. Taking off again, he dashed to the cab, this time keeping up to stay alongside the driver's seat.

"Excuse-me-mister-but-you-seem-to-have-a-minor-stashed-away-in-the-trunk-of-your-vehicle-if-you-could-just-pull-over-so-I-can-see-your-licence-and-registration-it-" The Martian in the seat stared incredulously at the bird who managed to keep up with the car. He slammed on the accelerator to speed away, pulling away as fast as the vehicle could. Rev was not discouraged as he easily picked up his pace to stay side by side with the cab.

"You-know-resisting-arrest-is-not-going-to-look-very-good-on-your-record.-I'll-have-to-add-that-to-the-other-list-of-offenses:-flying-at-300-miles-in-a-250-mile-per-hour-zone,-illegal-possession-of-royal-property,-grand-theft-auto-" The Martian reached to his belt and pulled out his laser gun and took careful aim. He shot point blank at the roadrunner's head, however the beam sailed harmlessly by him as Rev moved his head out of the way.

"Assault-on-an-officer!" Cassius pumped several more rapid shots at the bird, each one was dodged effortlessly by the Earthling as the two continued the highspeed chase. Snarling in rage as he failed to take out the meddlesome creature, the Martian resorted to one last weapon in his grasp. He gripped the steering wheel and in one swift motion, yanked it as far left as it would turn. The car swerved violently toward the roadrunner that was flying just a few inches away, effectively ramming into Rev and sending him crumpling to the ground upon impact.

Rev gasped and wheezed as he finally tumbled to a stop on the harsh cracked earth, the wind knocked out of him. He clutched with his arm at his rib cage. He quickly checked himself over. Severely bruised in many places, but miraculously nothing broken, suffering no serious damage.

He had been careless with this one and had underestimated the guy. He wouldn't make such an error again. He opened up his communicator to contact the others.

* * *

Ace leaned against the dashboard of the speeding car, hoping to get a glance of Rev or their target. Even with his enhanced eyesight, he could spy nothing ahead. He had figured that Rev would have a better chance of catching up with the stolen car than the rest of them, so he had sent him ahead to see if he could stall or stop them, while the rest of the team and their escort raced behind him. If Rev needed backup, Ace was going to make sure it would be available nearby. 

A flashing light on his wrist alerted him that Rev was trying to contact him. He pressed a button to open up the channel

"Rev? Ya dare? What's happenin'?"

"Ace. . . -I-I-. . . found-him-but-"

"Rev! You okay?!" Ace frowned worryingly at the sound of the roadrunner's gasping and wheezing.

"Some-guy- . . .tried-to-. . . run-me-over-. . . He-"

"Save yar strengtd, Rev. We'll be dere in a second!"

"No-wait!-. . .I'm-okay-. . . just-winded-. . .I'll-meet-up-with-you-shortly." The communicator shut down and within a few minutes a sandstorm appeared over the horizon, heading straight for them. The roadrunner swerved to make a U-turn, and slowed down his pace, allowing the two other cars to follow him as he lead them to their target.

* * *

Cassius stood perched precariously over the crater's edge and peered over the edge. 

"Nothing could walk away from that fall." He remarked aloud, satisfied. He casually walked to the back of the car and leaned against the trunk.

"Well, I have no idea how those creatures tracked me down, but I do know one thing: They won't care about looking for me if they are too busy mourning your demise, boy." He spoke to the unconscious body within.

"A shame I couldn't keep you around for negotiating purposes, but you are too much of a liability at this point. I suppose there is always the other one if I get the chance. She'll be worth _two_ of you I'll wager. But I suppose it doesn't matter if I do what I was planning to do anyway a little prematurely." On that note, Cassius strolled to the front to release the anti-gravity breaks and shift the vehicle into neutral. Mustering up his strength, he pushed the back of the hover car and sent it careening off the edge of the cliff. There was no sound for almost a minute, before a soft thud signified its crash at the bottom. Cassius smirked to himself.

"What are you doing?" An annoying little voice in his head whispered. He ignored the lingering retainment of conscience.

"Making sure there is one less pest on my path to global conquest." He answered back.

"By tossing a car into a ditch?" The voice asked, almost puzzled.

It's what's inside that's the key." He answered back, as though trying to instruct a halfwit. "I doubt the little brat in the trunk will survive the landing."

"Hmm. . .so that's your scheme is it?" The voice asked a bit dubious. Great. So now his conscience was mocking him.

"Part of it. Those aristocrats at the palace will soon follow." He assured the smug little voice.

"Well, good luck with that. . .I'll be seeing you." The conscience finally decided to leave, its faint footsteps signaling its exit.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out." Cassius bid a welcome relief at the voice's departure. Wait a minute. . .His eyes widened in rage after a moment as he suddenly realized.

_Footsteps?!_

Cassius whirled around and spied the Martian prince trying to quietly sneak away. He dashed to the teenager and grabbed him by the hair, twisting him around to face him.

"How did you escape?!" The older Martian's eye twitched in crazed fury at having his plan be foiled so easily. The short boy winced under the man's painful grip.

"Ow! Y-you left the t-trunk unlocked." He explained, earning him a rough shove to the ground as Cassius finally released him. Tyrannus staggered to his feet and rubbed his aching scalp.

"You didn't have to grab so hard." He complained softly, trying to ease the pain. Cassius glanced back at the prince, reaching for his belt.

"A crucial error on my part. One that I will soon rectify." He pulled out his laser gun and took square aim at the prince.

"Wait!" Tyrannus tried to halt the man as he stared fearfully at the end of the glowing gun barrel. "W-Why do you want to get rid of _me?!_ I barely know you."

"It's nothing personal you understand." Cassius explained casually, as though remarking on the weather of the day. "It's just that I've been seeking to overthrow the ruling family for some time now and frankly, any leftover heirs would just be a hindrance to my final destiny." Tyrannus gulped as his mind tried to think of some reason to dissuade the lunatic from his goal.

"S-So. . .that's it? You want to take over Mars? Why would you want to go and do a thing like that? It's not exactly a very exciting job. . .doesn't pay well either now that I think of it, at least from what I heard. There's a lot of paperwork, too, I imagine." His reasons did little to convince the other, but rather seemed to enrage him further.

"Because it's what I deserve!" The marauder snarled like a savage animal, causing Tyrannus to jump back instinctively at the tone."You have no idea what I have suffered through! How little honor I receive from everyone around me! Perhaps when I am ruler over them all, they'll finally show me some respect!" Cassius had managed to work himself up into a tempest of tightly coiled fury, and Tyrannus regarded the Martian before him thoughtfully. He decided to make one last gambit.

"Papa always says talking about your feelings can make you feel better. Why don't you tell me all about it?" Cassius stared at the boy as though he had lost his last working neuron and then snorted contemptuously.

"You would never understand."

"And how does that make you feel?" The young prince urged. Cassius blinked in confusion. He never thought about such things.

"Feel? Uh. . .gee. . .I don't know. . .angry. . . frustrated. . . lost. . ."

"I see. . .why don't we start with your childhood. . ." Tyrannus whipped out his inventory clipboard from that morning and started jotting notes

* * *

"Then when I was twelve, I had to wear braces. It was a monstrous apparatus that came all around my head three times. It used to pick up signals from space. All the kids called me 'radio head.'" Cassius poured his heart out as he laid prone on his back across the ground, his head propped up against a rock for comfort. Across from him, Tyrannus sat on another rock, scribbling diligently. 

"Children can be so cruel." Tyrannus remarked halfheartedly, barely paying attention, more interested in what he was writing. Cassius didn't notice the weary boredom in the teenager's voice, but continued speaking on as through he hadn't been interrupted.

"Then on the night of my junior prom, my date dumped me to go out with the captain of the basketball team."

"I see."

"I ended up paying for a limo and corsage only to take out my cousin."

"I see." Tyrranus parroted the same line.

"I didn't even get to dance. Not once."

"I see." Tyrannus wasn't sure how long he could keep distracting the man like this. Hearing every single mundane thing that ever went wrong with the other Martian's life since birth was like suffering through dripping water torture.

He mentally groaned as Cassius took off on _another_ long-winded tirade about his first marriage. No telling when _that_ was going to end. Tyannus went back to his clipboard and started putting the finishing touches on his latest doodle. He found himself grinning as he sketched out a rather poor stick figure of the Martian in front of him, complete with his own personal additions of large round glasses bigger than his subject's head and crossed eyes.

"Just once I wish she would just admit I was right on a subject! But apparently you don't need an encyclopedia with her around. She knows it all!" Tyannus sighed and went back to his drawing. Perhaps some goat horns would be good. . . and a tail. . .

* * *

"What is this place?" Tech stared out from the side of the racing hover car into the desolate desert. Dry parched land cracked underneath them, stretching to the horizon all around them. The only feature interrupting it was a wide crater, nearly half a mile around, at which they were flying precariously near the edge. 

"This is one of the sites where Mars was hit recently by a meteor shower." Marvella explained emotionlessly as she drove behind the other car and Rev. Slam stared into the cavernous hole and whistled at its impressive size. Tech looked back at the princess, pondering the statement she made.

"_One_ of the places? You mean there are more?" The woman was surprisingly patient and failed to snap at the coyote's many questions.

"This is one of the more devastating spots." She answered, her voice showing a little more thoughtfulness. "The others are much smaller in scale, though they have been the cause of much damage." Tech shook his head. To think Acmetropolis could have suffered a far worse fate than it had, even it if had still survived the initial impact. Tech remembered many shambled buildings waiting to be rebuilt as well as the long line of citizens lining up to be fed or willing to turn on their own because of a food shortage. From what he had read in books, Mars relied heavily on carefully maintained farms of non-native species to keep the population alive. And the Martians had mentioned a game preserve that had managed to survive, which Tech and the others had managed to have a brief visit to. But if most of those places had been reduced to wasteland like this, it would certainly explain the chaos on the planet as well as the royals willingness to accept Earth as an ally, if only to extract some sort of aid until they were back on their feet.

"I would think that living on a planet right next to the asteroid belt, you would by now have developed a system for preventing such eventualities." Really, it was common sense. The only reason Earth didn't have one for itself is because devastating impacts were few and far between, and rarely affected the entire planet. The thick atmosphere burned off the majority of them anyway.

"We have one and still do. All our indicators showed that there was an enormous meteor heading in our direction, but based on the speed and position of its trajectory, our scientists estimated that it would pass Mars safely. As a result, there seemed no need to take any action to destroy it or raise shields around inhabited areas." Tech listened to the princess as he continued to survey the wreckage of the meteor.

"I'm assuming they were wrong in their calculations."

"No, they were correct." Marvella answered, annoyance slipping into her tone. "Something else happened; something they could not predict. I'm not exactly sure what, though. For some random reason, the thing just exploded on route, right before it passed. The object was already the size of a small moon, and the chunks of debris which remained and entered the thin atmosphere were the cause of the tremendous damage you see a sample of. The survivors are still recovering." Something about that tale struck Tech as incredibly odd. . .and more suspiciously familiar. . .His stomach was beginning to feel slightly queasy, and it had nothing to due with car sickness.

"Exactly when did this happen?" He asked warily and uneasily, staring apprehensively out into the wasteland. Marvella paused for a moment, doing some mental calculations in her head.

"Hmm, let's see. . . I would say about one of your Earth years approximately, give or take." Tech felt a lump growing in his throat the size of an apple and slid bonelessly slumped in his seat. Marvella turned to look at the coyote.

"Is something the matter? You look greener than you did this morning. If you are going to be sick, please be so outside of the car. I'd rather not have to clean up after you!"

The car raced on, following Ace and the others, while Rev led them to the target he was tracking. Tech didn't care for the scenery anymore. All he could think of was that eventful day a year ago, when a second, even bigger comet had been detected heading toward Acmetropolis.

The Loonatics were the ones who had blown the thing up, and they had been so relieved and proud of themselves to have saved the planet. They had given little thought to the remaining debris. But now the results were here in front of them, right before their eyes.

They were they ones who had blown up the giant meteor before it had passed safely by Mars. They were the ones who had unwittingly unleashed devastation onto the planet and its peoples. The Martians may have unknowingly set off the chain of events which lead to the meteor impact at Acmetropolis, and now Earth had returned the favor, though with more disastrous results.

'_It's all our fault!'

* * *

_

Ugh, I thought I'd never finish this chapter. I despise writer's block and school work. I wish I could shoot them both.

Okay, before the newly created Rev Runner fan club effectively crucifies me, I just wanted to say sorry. But, yes, I do think Rev could be taken out by a car or some other piece of machinery. Since Slam is the only one shown with greater than average strength, it's probably reasonable to expect that if hit by a fast moving object weighing a few thousand pounds, our favorite roadrunner is not going too fair well. Frankly, I think his superpowers (aka artistic licence) did enough to keep him alive with minimal damage.

Regarding the revelation bit at the end, I just remembered the first time I watched "Comet Cometh", and thinking "Why do they keep showing that red planet in the background?" (watch it again, and you'll see what I'm talking about). I was absolutely convinced Mars was involved somehow, but then it was revealed to be Optimatus. But the thought still lingered and well. . .this is the result.

More Latin lessons!

_Anguis in herba_ means snake in the grass. This is the lovely little curse the cabbie was screaming in "Martian"

Now to try and squeeze out chapter 10.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 10**

Sooner or later, Tyrannus knew his attention span would no longer be able to suffer through much more. As of now he felt as though it was on the verge of total collapse if he made himself endure any more dreck from the Martian marauder lying next to him. All he wanted to do was put as many miles as he could between himself and the neurotic assassin.

"I think you've made some real progress. Getting all these issues out into the open is much more healthy than keeping them bottled up inside."

"You know. . .I do feel as though a weight has been lifted off of me." The older man seemed somewhat calmer than before.

"I think that if you were to just take some time everyday to reflect upon your emotions, you wouldn't have all these anger issues."

"Probably. . ." He admitted a bit reluctantly.

"So. . .why don't you just put the gun down and maybe we can just forget this whole episode ever happened? Maybe find a good therapist so that you can work out all these unresolved issues of yours." Cassius stood up and weighed the pistol in his hand, contemplating. He made an aborted gesture to hand the thing over to the teen, before tightening his grip and whipping the butt of the weapon across the younger Martian's face. The impact smacked hard, sending Tyrannus crumbling to the ground in a daze.

"Nice try, kid. You almost had me there for a while." Cassius looked casually over the prone youth at his feet, mildly impressed with the sheer cheek the kid had in attempting to escape."Though I admit this wasn't a complete waste of time. I'll be sure to take your advice later and invest in some therapy sessions once I have taken over the throne. In the meantime. . ."Cassius pressed his boot harder into the boy's chest, as he aimed point blank at Tyrannus's head and pulled the trigger on his laser gun.

The shot never made it to its target, sailing harmlessly into the sky above as the gun was shot out of Cassius's grip by a red laser blast. Another pink bolt this time was fired, this time hitting the Martian square in the chest knocking him off of his intended victim. Tyrannus scrambled away from his assailant, as a sturdy hand gripped his upper arm, helping him stand up.

"You okay, kid?" The young boy stared somewhat stupefied at Duck, still shocked at all that had happened in the span of the last few seconds, as a crowd started forming around them. Toward the edge of the cliff, forgotten for the moment, Cassius slowly reached for his weapon and picked himself up, clutching his bruised chest as he tried to finish what had been interrupted."Heads up!" Duck shoved the kid to the ground as he quacked out of the space, just as the laser flashed through the spot they had been in. He materialized in the air, a second later and threw with all his might a glowing orb at the Martian, which exploded in a mess of sticky green slime.

Blinded, Cassius stumbled back from the force of the attack toward the edge. The heel of his foot met with air, and he felt himself tipping over, windmilling his arms frantically in a futile attempt to keep balance. The ground underneath his shoes crumbled under his weight, and he let out a bellow of terror as he felt himself tumbling into the chasm. A streak of fire raced beside him and just as suddenly he felt himself jerked to a stop as something pulled at the back of his shirt, suspending him in midair. Rubbing his eyes clear of most of the goo, he craned his neck and gazed in bewilderment as the crimson roadrunner holding him flew up with the Martian in tow.

"Unhand me at once you abominable bird!" He snarled at the Earthling, trying to wrestle his way out of the bird's grasp before he could drag him to the awaiting clutches of the Commander at the top.

"You're-the-boss!" Rev replied nonchalantly. Too late did the Martian realize his error as the Earthling dropped him. Shrieking in terror as he plummeted, he could register nothing but the air smacking him full force and the blood pounding in his head. All too soon, it was over.

"That-was-for-running-me-over-with-that-car,-you-big-jerk!" Rev snorted in amusement as he hoisted the petrified Martian, that he had caught almost an inch before impact, back up the cliff to be handed over to the Commander. By the time they had reached the top, the man was in no condition to argue or fight back, but simply stood significantly pale and stiff as a steel rod.

Tyrannus dusted himself off, still shaken from the ordeal, but thankful it seemed to be all over. He glanced around to see if he could spot his savior.

Danger Duck nearly had the wind knocked out of him from the impact of the young lad as he launched himself at him in a tight hug.

"Oh thank Ares! You saved my life, Danger! Were it not for you, I'd surely be done for!" Lexi stared dumbfounded at the Martian gripping the mallard.

"And just what the heck were we? Backup dancers?" She crossed her arms in annoyance at the snub and glancing over at Ace, seeking his reaction at the display. The other rabbit didn't have his trademark smile on, but simply shrugged and shook his head.

Upon hearing the rabbit's complaint, Duck smirked, relishing in the praise and attention he was being lavished with.

"Jealous?" He couldn't resist teasing the bunnies.

"Of what? Your little fanboy?" Lexi attempted to remain impassive, though still pouting.

"How did you find me anyway?" Tyrannus asked, still clutching his hero.

"Well, it was nothing really. I knew that you would never leave your post of your own free will after_ I_ told you to keep watch. That just left one possible explanation. And an experienced superhero like me learns to read the workings of the criminal mind. I knew he would try to make a break for the nearest exit like a rat running from a sinking ship. After that, it was just a matter of tracking him down. Not too hard considering the trail he left behind." Ace smacked his forehead at Duck's tall tales. This was all too familiar territory.

"Oh Marg-aret! It's de 'Stomper Incident' all ova again." He grumbled to himself.

"Excuse-me-but-I-was-the-one-who-actually-tracked-the-criminal-down-and-more-than-once-I- may-add," Rev stepped in after handing his captive over to the Commander and princess. He couldn't help but overhear Duck's exaggerations and thought it was only right to set facts straight. "But-that-is-just-what-I-do,-you-know?-Tracking-things-and-people-since-I-am-the-most-qualified-considering-I-am-the-one-with-the-built-in-global-positioning-system-" A feathered hand shot out and snapped his beak shut before the roadrunner could continue.

"Alright, that's enough out of you!" Duck snapped irritably at Rev for once again trying to steal his limelight.

"That was very ingenious of you!" Tyrannus piped up, sounding very impressed.

"Why-thank-you-I-try-" Rev preened.

"Using the bird's GPS system to track down that man was a very cunning maneuver on your part, Danger!"

"What?!" The roadrunner's jaw dropped in shock at having his talent being attributed to Duck.

"It was, wasn't it!" Duck smirked, eagerly accepting the credit.

"Grasthafathashgrawwl!" Slam growled in disapproval. The Tasmanian devil turned to Tech, hoping to get the coyote to intervene somehow. Tech, however, appeared indifferent to the goings on, lost in his own world.

"Yeah, Duck, shouldn't be taking credit for stuff he didn't do." The coyote said half heartedly, not even looking at the rest of the Loonatics, but rather out into the distance, as if seeing something none of the others could.

"I suggest we get a move on." The Commander announced to the group. "This is not the place to be at nightfall, especially for Earthlings. Unless you six wish to die of hypothermia within the hour, we must make our way back to the palace."

"What about Lenin ova here?" Ace pointed to the Martian chained in laser cuffs in the back of one of the cars. The Commander, not getting the reference, quirked an eye in confusion.

"He will be dealt with," was all the answer the Martian gave as he climbed into the driver's seat. Marvella got behind the wheel of the other vehicle and motioned for her brother to sit beside her.

"Get over here, Tyrannus! You are not leaving my sight until we get home!" The younger Martian climbed in, sheepishly silent.

"I am not looking forward to explaining this whole incident to mother and father when we get back."

* * *

"Mother of Mars are you alright?!" Marvin looked over his son, examining every inch for some sign of abuse or trauma that might have been overlooked, clucking in worry. Neither of the rulers had taken the report of the incident at the city very well.

"I'm fine, Papa. Really! If it weren't for Danger Duck and his team, I surely wouldn't be here."

"The _duck_ saved you?!" The Martian king stared skeptically at the mallard, not believing a word, but apparently unwilling to say any more on the subject.

"Well, we certainly should be thankful for his heroics!" Queen Tyr'ahnee nodded in thankful approval toward Duck.

"Be that as it may, I still think you should get yourself checked over, just to be safe." Marvin ordered sternly. "As a matter of fact, it wouldn't hurt for _all_ of you to get examined. Ares knows what kind of wounds or parasites you might have picked up battling those thugs. Now go on!" He shooed the entire party out as the Commander lead them to the palace infirmary. The King stopped his daughter from leaving with the others. "Just a moment, Marvella, dear, may I speak with you privately?" Sensing a lecture coming on, Marvella was quick to try and halt it.

"Look, it wasn't my fault! I had no idea that he was-"

"I'm not blaming you for anything." Marvin reassured his daughter. "It's just that this whole incident has made me realize how much you both mean to your mother and me. I can't stand the thought of something happening to either of you, and I see now that I won't always be around to protect you."

"Father, I assure you, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. It is what I was trained for after all."

"Yes, you are right about that. However, I would like to know that in your parents' absence, you would be keeping an eye out to look after Tyrannus."

"He's 370 years old! He's old enough to look after himself without a babysitter!"

"You're siblings! You should both be looking after each other. After all, he will be with you longer than anyone else."

"I have been in charge of him for many years, and nothing I do or say seems to get through to him. What will happen once he is a man? Is his older sister supposed to protect him even then?" Sensing that her husband wasn't getting through to their oldest offspring, Tyr'ahnee stepped in.

"Look honey, I know you probably don't see the potential that your father and I see in Tyrannus, but I went through a lot of pain bringing you and your brother into the world, and frankly, we're not quite ready to see our either of our legacies destroyed at this time. So could you do us all a favor and try your best to keep your brother out of trouble before he kills himself? That is all we ask at this time." If nothing else, the younger woman recognized the importance of heirs. Ares forbid something should happen to her and both her parents prematurely and there was no backup. Marvella would rather the throne remain with blood than become the possession of a power hungry usurper like the Martian they had recently apprehended. Even if that blood was Tyrannus.

"As you wish, Mother." The Martian Princess acquiesced to the request before stalking off to the medical facilities.

"How did you know that would work?" Marvin asked inquisitively.

"Mother's intuition. Not to mention that I used to have an older sister." Tyr'ahnee stated matter-of-factly. Marvin decided not to press the issue, not sure he wanted to hear the details of that family history. He remembered quite distinctly hearing accounts that the royal family had had only one daughter during their reign.

* * *

"Well dat's an experience I neva want ta go trough again." Ace rubbed his aching backside as he slowly shuffled out of the infirmary. To say the medic was thorough in his physical would have been an understatement. The Martian had been positively invasive! The numerous immunizations, tissue and blood samples, and decontamination procedures were exhaustive

"Just precautionary measures, you understand?" the medical officer had explained earlier "We haven't had outsiders visit the planet in such a long time, it's impossible to say what you may be carrying or pick up. I have no idea why you all weren't brought to me earlier. You really should have been." Well at least it was all over.

Lexi soon exited from another examination room, limping slightly.

"If that's how they treat their healthy patients, I'd hate to see what they do to the injured ones."

"It's-not-pretty-I'll-tell-you-that-much-and-what-are-you-complaining-about-anyway?-You-got-off-easy,-especially-since-I-was-the-one-who-got-ran-over-by-a-car!" Rev complained. Duck was the last to join the group, holding his stomach and looking more green than black or orange.

"Ugh. . .if I never see another needle again, it will be too soon!"

"Uh. . .Mr. Danger Duck. . ." A medic in olive green scrubs opened the door, glancing over a clipboard, "seems we forgotten to vaccinate you for rabies. If you'll just come with us back into the examination room."

"Wait! There's been a mistake! I had all my shots! Really! Besides, ducks don't get-Ahhh!" the mallard clawed in vain at the threshold of the door as he was dragged back in, before the sliding doors slammed shut ominously. If it weren't for Duck's disgraceful performance in the desert a few hours ago, Lexi would have almost felt sorry for him.

She turned to notice Tech leaning against the wall, his arms crosses and his head bent deep in thought, brooding almost.

"Hey, Tech, are you okay?" The coyote's head snapped up, but he refused to look Lexi in the eye as he answered.

"I'm fine."

"Ya don't sound fine." Ace joined in, voicing his concern for their teammate. Slam grunted in encouragement as he patted the coyote on the shoulder. Whatever was on Tech's mind, he could trust his friends to be understanding. Tech sighed in resignation.

"Okay. . .but you have to promise to keep everything that I'm about to tell you a secret. What I have to say stays between the five of us. And it would probably be best not to tell Duck either, knowing that big beak of his." When the four Loonatics nodded a silent oath not to breathe a word, Tech started his narrative. "When we were out in the desert this afternoon, I found out that the reason Mars is in ruins and so much chaos is because of an unexpected meteor shower. They were hit, just like Acmetropolis was, only more numerous and with far more disastrous results. . .like the complete annihilation of their farms' food supply and various cities."

"So. . .you feel guilty? Because their planet got hit and ended up in ruin while we got superpowers?"

"I know it may seem unfair, Tech, but unfortunately, tings like dis happen sometimes. It's nobuddy's fault." Ace attempted to comfort his friend, but Tech just shrugged off the hand off his shoulder and the attempt to reassure him.

"But that's just it! It _is_ our fault! We caused it! _All_ of it!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The second meteor that Optimatus sent to Acmetropolis, we used explosive charges to blow the thing up. But it wasn't enough! There was debris left over. And the left over rock pummeled this planet."

"Are you sure? How can you know that it was the same meteor?"

"Because the time Mars was struck was around the same time we took out that meteor. Nearly a year ago around this time."

"Well-maybe-it's-just-a-coincidence." Rev suggested nervously.

"I wish it were. But from what the princess let slip, the Martians had been tracking the same meteor at the time. They weren't concerned since they had calculated that it would miss their planet. . .but then they said the thing exploded for no reason before it passed. Unless there was another meteor of the same size on route at the exact same time that also blew up into a million pieces, this was no coincidence. It was us, you guys. We are to blame for all the destruction on this planet." The Loonatics' eyes widened as the meaning behind those words sank into them.

"That. . .That can't be right! It just can't!" Lexi insisted, not wanting to believe her own ears and just wishing for once the coyote was mistaken.

"Well, look, it's not like we did it on poipose or anyting. . .and what could we do. . .just let the meteor hit Acmetropolis instead?" Ace countered.

"No. . .but it's more my fault than anyone else's. I could have loaded more charges before we left so that there would not have been any leftover debris. Or better yet, I could have calculated a position on route where the explosion would have caused minimal damage to either planet. Even if the meteor had been destroyed closer to Acmetropolis, the material left behind would have burned up in our thicker atmosphere and would not have been nearly so cataclysmal. But I didn't even stop to think of the consequences of us blowing that thing up while it was still so close to another planet. All those lives. . ." For a few minutes, everyone was silent, before Ace stepped up, there was no smile or attempt to try an reassure the coyote that the event was unavoidable.

"What's done is done." Ace said, not bothering to try to sugarcoat the tragic event. "We can't undo what happened. . .all we can do is try ta make a difference ta help while we're here. Pay our debts." While the team stood in silence, waiting for the last member to rejoin them, little did they know that an extra pair of ears had heard every word.

* * *

Cassius glared through the glowing laser bars of his cell and at the crimson stone wall that composed the dungeon. He didn't think they still made places like this anymore. Must be a leftover from the early years of the Empire. He had been standing in the same spot for nearly three days, only allowed to rest for an hour or so a day to attend to matters which required privacy. Other than that, he was fed and forced to sleep standing up, and he was becoming exhausted. The Centurions who guarded him hovered with their backs turned to him, ignoring their prisoner for the most part.

A door at the top of a spiraling stone stairway, slid open, emitting bright white light into the dim crypt. Two silhouettes, made their way down slowly to the bottom, the door closed behind them, throwing the room back into darkness, which was only broken by a few emerald green torches.

The Martian King spoke something to the Centurions, who floated to the controls and let down the electrified containment field. Cassius made no move to escape, since it was impossible as long as he was still shackled to the wall. The Martian King stood only a few inches away from him, studying him curiously. The Martian Commander who accompanied him brought up a folding chair next to him and took a few steps back while he waited for the business to be finished.

"Hello there. Have a pleasant morning?" The shorter Martian asked him, strangely cheerful. Cassius stayed stubbornly silent, refusing to rise to the bait. Surprisingly enough, the Martian in front of him chuckled before continuing."I suppose that was a rather foolish question, but I try to make it a habit to be civil toward most people. You don't mind if I sit down do you?"

He didn't bother waiting for an answer as he lowered himself in the chair, leaning on his cane."I'm getting rather on in years. A problem most people have to face sooner or later. Young people never realize the gift of their health and stamina until its too late. Oh, thank you!" The King nodded in pleasant surprise as the Commander provided him with a steaming cup of tea. He closed his eyes and took a long sip, relishing the drink.

"What do you want?" Cassius suddenly snarled, growing quickly tired of whatever game the short little ruler was playing. Marvin continued to sip his tea until it was done, then slowly opened his eyes to look at his captive.

"You know, people often tell me I'm a very patient Martian. And indeed, I try to be. Very few people are able to truly try my temper, not even the animal farm currently residing in my home, though I loathe them immensely." He passed the empty cup to a Centurion before pushing himself up onto his feet. "Believe it or not, I actually don't care to resort to violence for any problem outside of what my work demands." He hobbled close toward Cassius."However in your case, I am sorely tempted to make an exception." Before the taller Martian could register, the crook of the Marvin's cane hooked into the front of his shirt collar and yanked him down hard until he was eye level with the King, though his wrists were still pinned to the wall on either side of him. "You see I don't abide people, _any_ people, who threaten my family, especially one of my offspring." He still spoke as calmly as ever."And were I not a strict adherer and enforcer of the law, I assure you, you wouldn't be conscious to hear me speak. Luckily though, you won't last long anyway." The Martian suddenly released the prisoner in front of him. Cassius couldn't believe the arrogance of the man.

"A little premature thinking that. I still have the option of a trial, and there are many people who will not stand to see me behind bars. Especially since you have no concrete evidence that I was behind the little incident the other day in the city."

"Your trial is merely a formality." Marvin almost bored brought his cane up to his eyes, twirling and examining the top as he laid out the facts to the condemned Martian.

"One of your own men outed you as the one who made that grisly attack on my most trusted of Commanders. And of course who could forget all the witnesses who caught you red handed trying to murder my son. _When_ you are found guilty, make no mistake, I won't be pulling for the sentence of 'life in prison', if you get my meaning." He turned to walk away, but not before glancing back one last time. "Have a nice day. . . or what's left of your remaining ones anyway." The bars hummed back to life and the two visitors left the dungeons, the door clanging loudly behind them.

"How is your cousin coming along?" Marvin turned to his Commander.

"The medical crew at Imperial City tell me he's lucky to be alive. They'll keep him until he's out of critical condition, but the transport had produced many complications."

"That's a shame. I'm sorry. He was a good Martian and an excellent officer. The best Mars had to offer. I should pay him a visit."

"I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

"And how are you fairing?"

"My personal feelings do not interfere with my duties, Sir."

"I know this is probably not the best time to mention it, but I'm giving you a promotion."

"Sir?"

"Commander A-1 was the best Commander in the military, but you, Commander M-2, are the second. And until he can return to his duties, I'll need you to fill in for him. I cannot do this on my own."

"Forgive me if I do not follow your train of thought, Sir."

"You'll see soon enough." The Martian King led them both to an empty wall. Marvin pressed a panel to unveil a hidden doorway. The room was about the size of a large closet, adequate enough to fit just fit in the two men and a transporter pod.

"What is this place?"

"This is the palace military's former underground laboratory. Not exactly the pinnacle of scientific achievement in this day and age, but it has a quaint sort charm I've come to admire. When I was your age, this was the place where every single piece of technology the military ever used was invented, from voice activated food synthesizers to the advanced robotics and warships. It has fallen out of use over the years, but it is one of the few places to completely survive the collision unscathed due to its location."

"If I may ask, why are we here?"

"Because I find it fitting that this place, a spot that was once the lifeblood of Mars while she was at her prime will be the setting for the rise of another, more glorious Empire. Think of it as a new renaissance for Mars." Marvin guided the Commander to the command platform and typed in a sequence of keys and buttons along the council board. The Commander's eyes could only stare in shock as a nearly completed device, one of the likes he had never seen before in his life, was unveiled before him. "It's amazing what you can do with some old transporter tubes, energy cores and left over car parts." Marvin looked down on his work with admiration. "I just wish I hadn't had to sacrifice my DVD player for the wiring."

* * *

"Where's Dad? I don't think I've seen him in days." Tyrannus looked over at the empty chair near his mother.

"I have no idea. He's holed himself up somewhere." Queen Tyr'ahnee poked savagely at the small piece of meat on her plate, averting her eyes from the vacant seat next to her. She had another meeting with the ambassador in a few minutes, and while at first she had enjoyed the opportunity of conducting business on her own according to her plan, she was starting to become more curious everyday as to just what her mate was up to. Experience over the years had told her that nothing ever good came out whenever he acted secretive.

Meanwhile Ace and the others were just about to give up trying to identify what was in front of them.

"Ya mind if we excuse ourselves for de night?" The Queen nodded and allowed the team to leave the table. Tyrannus watched them

"Yeah, me too!"

"Duck, aren't you going to say anything?" Lexi glared at the mallard, hoping he would get the hint and tell his lately acquired sidekick to leave them in peace for once.

"What?" Duck asked, not getting what Lexi was hinting toward. Ace wrapped an arm around him and pulled him away from the group.

"Could I talk ta ya for a second? Look, Duck, I get dat ya like havin' someone who respects ya, but we're all starting to get just a little sick of your second shadow."

"What are you talking about?" Ace pointed toward the teenager who was looking anxiously back at them.

"What? You mean Ty? Hey, every crime fighting action hero could use a sidekick. And since motormouth over there decided not to fill in anymore," He jerked a thumb over at Rev, "I've decided give the position to someone who wants it."

"Give me a break! You're not preparing dat kid ta be anyting udda dan your private lackey. All you've been doin' dis week is brag about yurself and tell story afta story!"

"And your point?! He doesn't care! I don't care! Why should you?! Unless. . ." Duck crossed his arms in smug satisfaction at guessing what he suspected were Ace's true intentions, "you're jealous, aren't you?"

"Me? Jealous?!"

"I didn't actually think so the first time, but after these last few days, it all makes sense. Fearless Ace isn't used to not being the center of attention. You are so used to having everyone kiss your fluffy white that when someone else comes along and decides to pay attention to me rather than you, you can't stand it. After all, it's not like _you_ have any fans or admirers that want to hang around you all day. . .unless you count your mom." For once Ace was too stunned for a witty retort, but stood gaping at Duck's wild accusations."I don't blame ya, but if you'll excuse me, we, or should I say _me_, are scheduled to make an appearance tomorrow, and I need to get my beauty sleep. Can't go meeting any future fans with baggy eyes." Duck shoved the rabbit out of his way, and made his way toward his room.

* * *

Ace and Duck didn't even glance at the other's general direction for the rest of the evening. At this point, all Ace wanted to do was sleep and pretend the mallard wasn't in the same room as him. Unfortunately, that was easier in theory than in practice, as he was startled awake by a not so surprising knock at the door.

"Now who could be callin' at dis late owa. . .as if I didn't know." Ace wearily pressed the side control button to allow the doors to slide open."If ya wanna talk ta Duck, I suggest ya come back at a normal time of da day. Or get joined at da hip to him so I don't hafta keep answering your calls at 3 AM."

"I pray for your planet if you are supposed to be the pinnacle of your species' wit. It clearly isn't your strong point."

"What da ya want, Tyrannus? Can't ya see that we're all slee-"

"Actually, I came to talk to you."

"Me? Can't imagine why." Ace stepped barefoot into the hallway, trying to overlook the fact that they were both having a secret late night conversation in their pajamas.

"I really did not appreciate those comments you made earlier tonight." The young Martian continued.

"You woke me up ta tell me-"

"Hey, do I interrupt you when you're speaking? Anyway, the fact that you clearly could have taken your little conversation into a room I _wasn't _present in is a moot point. You clearly have some issues to take care of. I have tried to be nice and friendly to you all, if only for Danger's sake since you are his so-called friends. But I must be frank with you. I have been observing you and your companions for some time and sincerely, I just do not think you are adequate for the position."

"Enigma's ovarated, especially at tree AM. Just what da heck are ya talkin' 'bout?"

"You are pushy, arrogant, and have an obvious temper, not to mention some possible unwarranted superiority complex." Tyrannus continued, ignoring the slightly glowing death glare the Earthling in front of him was giving. "I'm surprised your team has made it this far under your lead. I don't know why Danger hasn't addressed you earlier this week. I suppose he has some sentimental loyalty to you."

"Yeah, dat's Duck all ova" Ace muttered sarcastically, rubbing his eyes.

"Nevertheless, it's obvious that the best option for everyone in your party is for you to step down and allow someone far more capable to lead your band."

"And who would dat be?" Ace growled, already guessing the answer. Tyrannus quirked an eye in response.

"I never knew rabbits were so obtuse."

"And I never realized Martians were such nosy little ovabearin' joiks! Who da ya tink ya are tryin' ta tell me how to lead my team?! Ya know notin' 'bout me or my team! And I soitenly ain't takin' owdas from a punk kid!"

"Please, I am easily three centuries your senior! I've seen more of this galaxy than you could ever hope to manage in your lifetime."

"Says da little man whose gets his allowance from his mom!" Tyrannus's eyes widened as he was taken back at the jab. His shock and humiliation struck him speechless for a moment.

"You think you are so smart?! Well you aren't!" It wasn't quite the comeback the Martian was hoping for, but it was the best he could manage considering.

"Danger is too good for the likes of you and your simple little troupe. Your planet doesn't deserve him!"

"You're right! It doesn't!" Ace snarled back, the cruel words out of his mouth before he could stop them. The young boy's eyes narrowed into a glare.

"So the truth comes out. I should have known. I don't know what I was thinking trying to reason with you like a civilized person. You clearly have no rational when it comes to recognizing what you have in front of you. Sorry to have wasted your time. . .and mine." The Martian teenager stormed off as threateningly as he could manage in turquoise flannel. Ace watched him turn the corner before he retreated back into his own room.

As he climbed back into bed, he mentally kicked himself for lashing out at Duck behind his back like that. Ace never realized he could be so petty. . .that he could allow his own temper to make him lash out verbally about his own colleague and sometimes friend. Sure Duck had a habit of rubbing on most peoples' last nerve, and snatching credit for things he had no part of. . .and tended to get in the way or screw up most times. . .but that didn't make him useless, right? Duck was still a member of the team, and whether he liked it or not, it wasn't _completely_ the mallard's fault that he attracted the attention of someone so devoid of rational thought.

As the rabbit's eyelids slowly drifted to sleep, Duck's eyes stared glaring at the empty wall on the far side of the room. He didn't need to have superhearing to overhear the loud argument outside, since he was already closest to the door. While the rest of the Loonatics snoozed in their own respective beds, Ace's words still rang in his head.

* * *

Well I hoped you all enjoyed chapter 10, though it was shorter than I originally planned. Any feedback at all will be appreciated.

I really disliked the portrayal of Duck these days as a mega-jerk, so I am starting to try to give him a more tolerable level of obnoxiousness. And don't worry. Ace will redeem himself. . .eventually. Would I mislead you? (don't answer that).

Also, I am currently in the process of pre-writing another LU fic featuring my favorite alien species (what can I tell you. . .they are my obsession). Since my first fic officially became AU as of Saturday February 10, 2007, I decided to try my hands at something that could fit into continuity. See, I have this thing about trying to keep things within the universe of a fandom. And since "It Came From Outer Space" left a bit of an open ending, I decided to pick up where it left off. Though you may notice a few similarities between the next fic and "IoM." So hopefully, sometime in the future I'll have the beginnings of "Fool Me Once" up (title is a wip).

Cookies to the person(s) who can correctly identify the Batman quote in this fic. (smile)


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